Dearest Danjo,
You are now a year and a half old.
Since last month you've acquire a handful of new words: manang, ball, door and MOM-MY!!! The latter is always MOM-MY!!! Never whispered, never gentle, never uttered in the absence of some sort of demand on my time, attention or body.
Nevertheless, it's my favorite of your words.
For obvious reasons.
You're as curious and fearless as ever. Always a glint in your eye, a look over your shoulder as you knowingly dart into Danger's path, daring someone to stop you, cackling with delight when we do.
You delight in our terror. You seek joy in precarious situations, balancing on the back of the sofa, climbing atop step stools, running full force into objects, people, hot ovens, the street.
Quite the little adrenaline junkie we have on our hands! And isn't she cute?!
For all the grief you cause, you are a charmer. I guess you better be. Your "squeezes" around the neck, your tiny arms grasping for a hold, pulling my face into yours, nuzzling into me... they make me melt. They make grown men melt. (But, we all know, men are the real suckers.) Your hugs and kisses are intoxicating. They are concentrated. They erase all memory of ill deeds. They erase all ill thoughts, for that matter.
But, when you're done, you're done. You could sit in my lap, laughing, reading Goodnight Moon, pinching my cheeks and honking my nose for what seems like, well, about a dozen minutes. And, quick as a flash, you're done showering affection and cuteness. You're across the room and back to your destructive tendencies.
And just when I lose my patience, when I've intervened and redirected too many times to count, just when I think I might destroy something, there you are. Just as quickly as you were gone, you are back, clambering up my legs, reaching to be held, holding me fast, like you'll never let me out of your sight again.
You can guess what happens next. All day. Back and forth.
Such is life. With an emotionally manipulative, abusively co-dependent eighteen month old.
Wouldn't change a thing.
Love you no matter what,
Photos by Unkinan Kevin Gibbs of Figure Four Fotos.
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