Month 12
Dear Ramon,
HAPPY BIRTHDAY! You are one. One Juan. I can't believe it. You're one year old! You turned 1 last Friday, and yes, it's already Monday. But I can't very well write your letter before the biggest birthday party of your life! The only birthday party of your life so far, admittedly, but still, it's tradition. The Month 12 letter is always after the party and let me tell you, your party was a BLAST!
Lots of people came to celebrate your birthday with us and everyone said it was a super fun party! You were very sleepy though, as you missed your morning nap to be at your party, however, despite this, you help up pretty well. You are very much a trooper, Ramon. You even allowed yourself to be held by many different people during the party. AND of all Mommy's children, you are the only one with a fairly acceptable smiling photo on your birthday party. It's kind par for the course for the Juan babies to be cranky on their birthdays. I guess you all get that from your Dad.
You are growing up to be such a gorgeous boy! And even if you still only have two teeth on your lower gums, you eat a lot! I'm really excited for you to grow more teeth because now that you're one you can eat ANYTHING! How are we going to feed you lechon if you still don't have teeth to chew with? Nevertheless, I'm so happy you eat well. When you attended Tita Che's PEW birthday dinner, Tita Camille commented on how well behaved you are when you eat! I guess I take it for granted that all my kids start out strapped to a chair when they have their meals. They don't see you at home, when you're strapped to a chair and you quietly eat, but if you see me, you start to complain and Wah! and Uh! uh! uh! And arte-arte until I come over to you and pick you up. And usually do. But one night, I decided to just let you cry it out and not pick you up until you finished your food. And you cried and cried, but you still managed to eat in between cries. And then I hugged you when your meal was finished. After that, no more complaining when you see Mommy while eating. Tsk tsk. I should have done that ages ago.
Except that you're incredibly irresistible when you want to be. I guess this comes with being the youngest. Last week, all week, I kept saying to you, "Ramon! You'll be one year old on Friday! Are you ready to be one? Are you ready? No! I'm not ready!" Hahaha! Maybe Mommy was the one who isn't ready. But ready or not, you are growing and now you are one. And in accordance to tradition, you're supposed to sleep in your room every night from now on. But Daddy and I are still discussing this because Daddy wants you to sleep with aircon at night but our electric bill will be preposterous if we have 4 aircons on every night. Hay naku! Bahala na.
Actually, in the past month, you only sleep with Mommy and Daddy maybe 75% of the time. On nights when Mommy and Daddy go out to dinner or "gimmick" (wonder if this is still a word people use by the time you can read this letter?), your Yaya puts you to sleep in your room and she rooms in with you. And technically, there is no reason for you to still sleep with us because you've weaned away from breastfeeding already. Yup. Sorry Ramon, I didn't reach the traditional 1 year of nursing with you. Unfortunately, by the time Mommy got back from Taiwan, I had no more milk. The day I returned, I was dripping so I nursed you one last time. But that was it. It was bitin and uncomfortable and you and I were both frustrated afterward, instead of satisfied. So that was the end of that. But I still wanted to co-sleep with you until you turned 1 so most nights, you still stayed with me in bed, and if you get hungry in the middle of the night, I get up and make milk for you.
It might be a hassle, and silly for me to give myself sleep problems when your yaya can do it for me. But it's worth it because our night time play time is sometimes our only one on one mommy and son time. It's often my favorite part of the day, when your Ates have gone to their room to sleep, and you and I are in my room, and I try to put you to sleep but you insist on playing and wrestling, and cuddling and escaping until you can't take it anymore. You sign for milk and I give you your bottle, turn off the lights and you noisly ttbbbttthhh while chugging down your milk and eventually fall asleep. I will miss this a lot when you move to your room. But I miss sleeping all night too. So I guess we'll see how negotiations go on this matter.
You are a very active baby. You like to crawl around everywhere, or zip around on your andador. At Diego's birthday you LOVED the bouncy castle with balls inside. At home, I discovered you have a new skill. And that is getting off Mommy and Daddy's bed. You especially like to do this when you're stuck on the bed with mommy and your sisters are doing all sorts of interesting things with fun toys on the floor. First you crawl to the foot of the bed, and then you back up, and then you turn yourself around and lower your feet off the bed on to the little couch. And when you're on the couch, you sit for a while, and then climb off backward again to get to the floor. WHAAAT??? I'm so happy that you're active! And your Daddy is so happy that you're careful!
Oh my Ramomomomomomomo! You are such a delight and a joy. You inspire me to be a good Mom and a great person. You make me proud of my choice to spend every waking moment with my children. I love you so much! Thank you for one wonderful year of being your Mommy and your favorite person in the whole world. I'm so honored and blessed to have you as my son. Happy Birthday!
Love, Mommy
HAPPY BIRTHDAY! You are one. One Juan. I can't believe it. You're one year old! You turned 1 last Friday, and yes, it's already Monday. But I can't very well write your letter before the biggest birthday party of your life! The only birthday party of your life so far, admittedly, but still, it's tradition. The Month 12 letter is always after the party and let me tell you, your party was a BLAST!
Lots of people came to celebrate your birthday with us and everyone said it was a super fun party! You were very sleepy though, as you missed your morning nap to be at your party, however, despite this, you help up pretty well. You are very much a trooper, Ramon. You even allowed yourself to be held by many different people during the party. AND of all Mommy's children, you are the only one with a fairly acceptable smiling photo on your birthday party. It's kind par for the course for the Juan babies to be cranky on their birthdays. I guess you all get that from your Dad.
You are growing up to be such a gorgeous boy! And even if you still only have two teeth on your lower gums, you eat a lot! I'm really excited for you to grow more teeth because now that you're one you can eat ANYTHING! How are we going to feed you lechon if you still don't have teeth to chew with? Nevertheless, I'm so happy you eat well. When you attended Tita Che's PEW birthday dinner, Tita Camille commented on how well behaved you are when you eat! I guess I take it for granted that all my kids start out strapped to a chair when they have their meals. They don't see you at home, when you're strapped to a chair and you quietly eat, but if you see me, you start to complain and Wah! and Uh! uh! uh! And arte-arte until I come over to you and pick you up. And usually do. But one night, I decided to just let you cry it out and not pick you up until you finished your food. And you cried and cried, but you still managed to eat in between cries. And then I hugged you when your meal was finished. After that, no more complaining when you see Mommy while eating. Tsk tsk. I should have done that ages ago.
Except that you're incredibly irresistible when you want to be. I guess this comes with being the youngest. Last week, all week, I kept saying to you, "Ramon! You'll be one year old on Friday! Are you ready to be one? Are you ready? No! I'm not ready!" Hahaha! Maybe Mommy was the one who isn't ready. But ready or not, you are growing and now you are one. And in accordance to tradition, you're supposed to sleep in your room every night from now on. But Daddy and I are still discussing this because Daddy wants you to sleep with aircon at night but our electric bill will be preposterous if we have 4 aircons on every night. Hay naku! Bahala na.
Actually, in the past month, you only sleep with Mommy and Daddy maybe 75% of the time. On nights when Mommy and Daddy go out to dinner or "gimmick" (wonder if this is still a word people use by the time you can read this letter?), your Yaya puts you to sleep in your room and she rooms in with you. And technically, there is no reason for you to still sleep with us because you've weaned away from breastfeeding already. Yup. Sorry Ramon, I didn't reach the traditional 1 year of nursing with you. Unfortunately, by the time Mommy got back from Taiwan, I had no more milk. The day I returned, I was dripping so I nursed you one last time. But that was it. It was bitin and uncomfortable and you and I were both frustrated afterward, instead of satisfied. So that was the end of that. But I still wanted to co-sleep with you until you turned 1 so most nights, you still stayed with me in bed, and if you get hungry in the middle of the night, I get up and make milk for you.
It might be a hassle, and silly for me to give myself sleep problems when your yaya can do it for me. But it's worth it because our night time play time is sometimes our only one on one mommy and son time. It's often my favorite part of the day, when your Ates have gone to their room to sleep, and you and I are in my room, and I try to put you to sleep but you insist on playing and wrestling, and cuddling and escaping until you can't take it anymore. You sign for milk and I give you your bottle, turn off the lights and you noisly ttbbbttthhh while chugging down your milk and eventually fall asleep. I will miss this a lot when you move to your room. But I miss sleeping all night too. So I guess we'll see how negotiations go on this matter.
You are a very active baby. You like to crawl around everywhere, or zip around on your andador. At Diego's birthday you LOVED the bouncy castle with balls inside. At home, I discovered you have a new skill. And that is getting off Mommy and Daddy's bed. You especially like to do this when you're stuck on the bed with mommy and your sisters are doing all sorts of interesting things with fun toys on the floor. First you crawl to the foot of the bed, and then you back up, and then you turn yourself around and lower your feet off the bed on to the little couch. And when you're on the couch, you sit for a while, and then climb off backward again to get to the floor. WHAAAT??? I'm so happy that you're active! And your Daddy is so happy that you're careful!
Oh my Ramomomomomomomo! You are such a delight and a joy. You inspire me to be a good Mom and a great person. You make me proud of my choice to spend every waking moment with my children. I love you so much! Thank you for one wonderful year of being your Mommy and your favorite person in the whole world. I'm so honored and blessed to have you as my son. Happy Birthday!
Love, Mommy