Letter to Nathan

My beautiful little boy, Nathan.

I love you soo much. It’s hard to describe how much adoration I feel when I look into your face or I hold your hand. You are nearly two and a half years old, with so much learning and growing still ahead of you, but you have already grown so much!

You love playing around outside. You grab the little basketball that you got from Perth and you come and grab my hand and say, “Come on! Play Ball!” and so I follow. How could I resist that cute voice. Everyone you kick with remarks on how straight and strong a kick you have for such a tiny fellow. Even your throw is pretty good. You’ve been practising dropping the ball and kicking it ever since you saw someone master the drop kick. It still doesn’t go quite where you want it, but you’re trying.

You are such an outside boy. You love being like one of the big guys, following them around and copying them. Bang banging with a hammer. We’ve been doing a lot of building and renovating at Chayah, and you’ve been intent on helping. We had to get you your own piece of wood and a nail so that you would stop banging every other nail in the building. You are already pretty handy with a hammer, hitting it straight on the head several times in a row.

With this comes your desire to fix things. When we went to Peter and Susie’s to play, they brought out a toy box filled with cars. You grabbed a car, and a screwdriver, turned it upside down and proudly told everyone you were going to “Fix Wheel.” And you did.

It’s not just cars and wood you like to fix, but pretty much anything. I turned my back for a few seconds and turned back and there was Eli with screwdriver marks in his face! You’d been fixing him too! You are always trying to make things better. In fact, at the moment “Better” is one of your favourite words. Anytime there is some rubbish, or a nappy, you insist on taking it the bin and once it is disposed of, you announce, “Better.” Or if you get in trouble for being rough with your brother, you come and give him a kiss, rub the sore spot and say, “Better”.

The love you have for Elisha blows me away. You are constantly wanting to shower him with love and hugs. I have to keep you from squishing him flat, but most of the time Eli has a huge grin on his face. You would be happy to know that you introduced him to solids, by sharing your vege chips with him. He munched into it happily. Eli in turn likes to pull at your hair and your clothes.

You have a compassionate heart. I hurt myself the other day, and you came up to me and asked, “Mummy, okay?” Then you sat on my lap, put your hands on either side of my face and made me look into your eyes. “Love you mummy,” you said. What parents heart wouldn’t fall to pieces when faced with that. When we play at the park, if there is a kid sitting on their own you immediately go over and sit beside them. Just sitting silently, gently, making sure they don’t feel left out.

I am so proud of you. You try hard, you love large and you are so beautiful.

My gentle and strong son.