Fast times and wild living with (the former) Baby Whozit…
Posted in Birthday Letter, Jessica on Oct 16th, 2014
Dear Simon, On the occasion of your eighth birthday, I’d like to share a little anecdote. A few weeks ago, I took a silly Internet quiz that promised to tell people who they were after answering 20 questions. When I took the quiz as myself, the answers were freakishly accurate about my age, hair color, […]
Posted in Birthday Letter, First Grader on Oct 16th, 2013
“Give me a child until he is seven, and I will give you the man.” (Jesuit saying) Dear Simon, It’s your seventh birthday today, and I’m overwhelmed with two contradictory feelings. The first is that I can hardly believe it’s been seven years since you entered my life. The second is that I can hardly […]
Posted in Birthday Letter, Jessica, Kindergartener on Oct 16th, 2012
Dear Simon, Today, at long last, you are six. Not five, not five-and-a-half or five-and-three-quarters, not even five-and-eleven-twelfths or any of the other intervals you tracked this past year. Just six: exactly, perfectly six. Relish it, for tomorrow you will be six and one three-hundred-sixty-fifth, and the countdown to the next year will begin anew. […]
Posted in Birthday Letter, Jessica, Little Boy on Oct 16th, 2011
Dear Simon, This is the year that sealed it for me and your Dad: We are some of the luckiest parents in the world. Not because you are perfect—no one is—but because, Baby Kitten aside, you are the perfect kid for us. I’m sure if I had sat down and described my ideal child: curious, […]
Posted in Birthday Letter, Jessica, Little Boy on Oct 17th, 2010
Dear Simon, You turned four yesterday, and I could not be happier for you. I mean it! This year I am not going to introduce any moist eyes or hand wringing into the equation. Your birthday will include little nostalgia, few observations about the speeding up of time, and no regrets about how far you […]
Posted in Birthday Letter, Jessica, Little Boy on Oct 16th, 2009
Dear Simon, They say that by three you can pretty well tell who your child is, that whatever you see at three is what you’re going to get. The same ambiguous “they”s out there say that key intellectual and emotional development happens by three, that your child’s life, care, and experiences in the first 36 […]
Posted in Birthday Letter, Jessica, Toddler! on Oct 16th, 2008
Dear Simon, Today you are two years old. Or, as you say it when I ask you, “tea.” The occasion of your second birthday has put me in a pensive mood, just as the occasion of your first one did. I’m not sure if it’s because of the sleep deprivation brought on by your ongoing […]
Posted in Baby!, Birthday Letter, Jessica on Oct 16th, 2007
Well, today is it: Simon’s first birthday. One year ago last night, a singer auditioned for Matt’s band who was so very bad and so very annoying that I joked at the time that he might send me into labor. Then I awoke at 5:20 or so the next morning with a pop of amniotic […]