Dear Charlie.......on your 3rd Birthday

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Dear Charlie,

It’s your birthday tomorrow and it’s been a big year for you so I want to write you a letter, so you can read all about it when you are older. Lots of significant things have happened. You started nursery, moved to a new house in a new area and gained a beautiful baby sister, Jorgie-Mae. It was a lot for your little brain to process, but you managed to take it in your stride and tried your best to cope with it all.

Your sister adores you. Her whole face lights up with a smile if you so much as look at her. You accepted her with no fuss. You have your jealous moments “mummy do you think we should throw Jorgie in the canal?”. This was a one-off comment and overall you took on the role of protective big brother from the start. I’m sure your bond will only develop as you both grow up.

You hated nursery at first and it took you a little while to settle in but now you are enjoying yourself. You like painting pictures for me, Daddy and Nanna every day. For the first few weeks you refused to eat your lunch at all but sometimes you now eat two lunches!

At first you missed your old house but now you love your new house. Although it will forever be known as “the new house” even though we have now lived here for 6 months.

You lost some people this year. Great Grandad Keith and Great Grandma Sue died, and this made you very sad. You asked lots of questions about heaven and you can’t quite understand where they have gone. All I can say is that they loved you very much and you will see them again someday.

We had the hottest summer on record for a long time, and this was very unusual for the North West. We had several weeks of sunshine and the moors near to where we live set on fire. This absolutely fascinated you for days. Football nearly came home (well kind of). I’m sure maybe it will be the closest that England will get to winning a cup in your lifetime. You took great pleasure in singing “Football’s coming home” wherever we went. Prince Harry got married, Prince Louis was born, Toys R Us closed and the NHS (where mummy works) finally got a pay rise.

The ‘Baby Shark’ song took over the world and you loved to dance around the living room to it. You have started to develop a taste for music and all we have heard you repeatedly sing this year is ‘Don’t Look Back in Anger’ by Oasis and ‘In my Feelings’ by Drake which has driven Daddy and I slightly mad. You went to your first festival ‘Y NOT Festival’ and loved sitting on Daddy’s shoulders and bopping to the Libertines and Catfish and the Bottlemen.  It was your first experience of camping and it was amazing to watch your excited face at staying in a tent whilst the wind howled, and the rain pounded down outside.

You were lucky enough to go on two holidays. We stayed in a caravan in Brixham to scatter Grandad Keith’s ashes and we went to America to see Mickey Mouse at Disneyland. Now we are back you keep asking me “Mummy when are you going to order America again?”. You had an absolute ball.

You’ve grown up so much this year and started to form real friendships, particularly with your cousin Macy and developed such a strong bond with our dog Tia. You understand now that she is blind and can’t see and tell everyone we meet. We have had some challenging times this year. You’ve started to get your independence and with this comes pushing the boundaries and seeing how much you can get away with. I’m trying to teach you right from wrong and so sometimes we clash, and I have shouted at you a bit more than I wanted to.  You are still finding your feet in this big world so sometimes Mummy needs to understand this and let you find your way. I don’t know how many times I have warned you “Santa doesn’t deliver presents to naughty boys” in the last few months.

I constantly worry about you and for you. How you will cope when I go back to work as you have got so used to having me around? I worry for the future about you starting school and making friends.  Anxiety kicks in that the world isn’t like it used to be when I was a little girl. Terrorism and Terrorist Attacks are now very real. War which once seemed unthinkable now seems possible and crime just seems to be on the increase.

However, I have faith in you. You are a funny, loving, inquisitive and clever little boy. As you grow up I want you to carry on developing your own identity and just be you. Then you can’t go far wrong. I want you to do what makes you happy and enjoy your little life as much as possible. The world is full of endless possibilities and I hope that when you read this when you are older, this is how you see the world.

So that summarises the year leading up to your 3^rd birthday. I can’t wait to see you open all your presents tomorrow.

Lots and lots of love,

Mummy x