Jake at 2

My wife discovered another baby blog where the author had written a letter to their child on their birthday each year and included some money towards their college fund. Whilst I won't be including any money with this post, I was delighted to find that I had written Jake a letter this time last year, so will be able to continue the tradition. As always, I'm a few days late, but here it is:

Dear Jake/Bear/Bjorn,

You've just turned 2 and I can't believe how quickly the last year has gone. I remember when you were first born and we were measuring your life in days. Our minds boggled when you turned one full month, but these last 12 months seemed to have whizzed past. However, with the time to take stock and reflect, so much has changed that I'm still surprised that you're still the same person who was bum shuffling around on Matt and Vix's garden last year.

Firstly, you can walk, and run, and jump (well sort of, we'll dig out the video of you doing a "star jump" with Aliya at Auntie Caz's wedding) which has changed everything. You walk everywhere (apart from when you demand to be carried) and you still crack us up when you bring our shoes then your shoes and stand pointing at the front door, ready for a walk. This walking leads you all sorts of places and means that play parks are so much more fun. It also means you've started carrying stuff around, especially rocks and sand, which to me marks your transition from a baby into the wonderful little boy you're turning into.

You're also starting to talk, and whilst you've only got 20 or so words at the moment, you make each of them count and it's always clear exactly what you want to happen (whether we agree with you or not is another issue!). It won't be long before you start chattering in full sentences, but for now, we love your ability to manipulate your world with pointing, tugging and babbling.

I think my favourite thing about this last year is seeing your personality develop. You've always had a great sense of humour, but you've now found ways to make yourself laugh and every day you find new ways to find yourself funny (like putting bowls on top of your head to use as a helmet). The word "Chuggington" sends you into paroxysms of giggles and bursts of excitement and you get endlessly frustrated when we have to shut it down or when it doesn't load quick enough.

I want to finish with a description of Sunday, which I think demonstrates a perfect example of who you are at age 2. You woke up chatting to yourself and Hobbes (oh Hobbes, I hope one day you'll love me and your mum as much as you love Hobbes) so we got you up and fed you some milk and cereal. You then came into the living room and played with your toys, mainly cars and trains but a few Duplo bricks thrown in good for measure. You like to line them up and then move the cars around, making brum brum noises to yourself.

Given that you'd decided to stop napping in the day time, Uncle Jim, Papa and I took you out, over a very steep hill (good thing Mum wasn't with us!) for a steam train journey. Fortunately, the steam train was about the right size for you, rather than us, so you absolutely loved it. I've never seen anyone so excited to be on a train and you wore the biggest smile on your face for the whole ride there.

We got to Ravenglass and went to the beach where you happily wandered around, finding rocks and sticks and filled your pockets with pebbles. You looked like such a little boy (rather than a toddler) and we could have stayed there all day.

Sadly we had to catch the train home, and you decided you wanted to sit inside the carriage again. You quite happily shut the door on us, waved us away with a big smile on your face and when I came back a minute later to get you, you were cuddling and chatting to Hobbes. When we finally got all in the same carriage, you spent the first part of the ride home looking out of the window and taking your shoes off (you do this a lot!).

You started to get tired, so you came for a cuddle and I could feel your whole body relax into mine. With the sun streaming into the carriage and beautiful scenery rolling by, I think I could have stayed like that forever. I know that you'll come to us less and less for cuddles and comfort over the years, but it really brought home just how much I love being your father and being there for you when you need me. As you will do in the rest of your life, you got back up and got on with things.

So there you are: a happy, chatty, confident little boy who is able to make friends and win the hearts of all your aunts and uncles (capitalised and not). Your third year will bring even more changes that we can't even imagine, but I know that you will continue to inspire the same love, devotion and pride that fills my every waking moment with you.

Dad.