Dear Piepie,
You’re two today! And how much you have grown over the past year.
You are starting to develop a personality, clearly shaped and moulded by the way myself, mommy and yaya act around you. For better or worse, you are one OCD toddler. Your first phrase is “Oh No!” and you’d point to ‘dirty stuff’ – hair on the floor, spilled food on the table, or crayon marks on the wall – and shout (and I mean shout) “OH NOOOOOO!!”. Again and again and again. Until one of us comes over to clean it up. I marvel at how babies learn to develop early traits, and I wonder if those traits tend to carry over as they grow older into adulthood. We’ll see, wont we? 🙂
Some say two-year olds enter a “Terrible Two” stage. You’re probably not there yet because you’re still an angel to us, despite occasional tantrums, and perhaps I’m hoping you’d skip that phase. A lot of the frustrations you have bubbling out stems from you simply wanting something and us not understanding what it is that you would like us to do, and so you’d scream and shout and gesture wildly. Which is quite cute, actually.
I’m super happy at how you are turning out, and I do think we owe a lot of it to yaya, who is able to make sure all your physical needs are met, but also be strict enough with you such that you will actually listen to us. The silver lining of Covid is also that we’ve gotten to spend a lot of time with you as you start to develop your personality and traits, thus having the chance to influence that, while also just being there to see the ‘firsts’. In some ways, I think this might also be the time when you’re the most “fun” – because you’re just developed enough to go about and do some things on your own, but still quite clingy to us (which we like!). And as I mentioned in the letter for your first birthday, which I re-read, we need to be so thankful that you’d still be clingy to us.
I hope I’m able to treasure these moments as much as possible. To go through these new experiences as if I’m already looking back and reminiscing, savouring. To stretch these moments out even as the drumbeats of life thumps steadily on. To steal an eternity from the ephemeral.
You’ll only be two, once.
Love, Dad