Birthday Letter (Adventures of L-Plate Gran)

Dear Avalyn Grace

Tomorrow (Wednesday 24th) you will be 2 years old. I wrote to you when you were born (here)  and again when you were 6 months old (here), so I guess you are due another letter.

I know you are looking forward to your birthday this time round - unlike your first one, when you cried the entire afternoon of your party, bewildered by the number of people and small children who had suddenly invaded 'your' space. Now you are older, you know you are going to be two, and are anticipating 'candles' and 'presents' and I am quite sure you will have both on your special day.

Unbelievably, we have been on our journey together through your baby world for almost a year. I started looking after you last March for two days a week, full of trepidation at the responsibility, and the purple buggy and very unsure of what was going to unfold. I need not have feared.

From the get-go, you welcomed me into your small life. We have developed a close and loving bond. We are friends, allies, conspirators. We share laughs, songs, books, silly jokes, we ride buses, we tease each other constantly. I love you to the moon and back.

As we slowly approach, perhaps, the end of our adventures, and you embark on the next stage, with a new baby brother arriving soon, I cannot tell you what a joy it has been to watch as you develop, and to have been a close part of your growing up.

I will always love you, and always be proud of you, wherever you go, whatever you go on to achieve. I will always be here for you, an encourager on the sidelines, a listening ear, or a shoulder to cry on. You have brought so much happiness to all your family, my precious little girl. Every blessing to you on your second birthday.

All my love

Grandma