At eight-oh-nine in the evening 2 years ago, the world heard your first note. A lovely cry that announced your arrival. Today my boy, you became a two year old. And with that, all the joyous experiences that comes with it.

First and foremost, your voice is the most prominent part of your personality. You began to speak slightly sooner than what the charts predicted, your command of French and Vietnamese is a wonder. Without any hesitation, you switch back and forth depending on the intended recipient. You speak so much in both languages, that we stopped counting the words in your vocabularies. You barely speak English though, other than a few of phrases like, “Are you ok?” and “Don’t do that”. All of which come with a slight French or Vietnamese accent. Awesome. 

Since your first birthday, you have done lots and lots. On June 20th, you took your first step in front of a roomful of cheering family members. You haven’t slowed down since. Since those first wobbles, you have experienced all the seasons as an active little boy. No longer are you just watching the world go by as you are strapped, attached and pinned down to various strollers and baby carriers. Being outside is easily one of your favorite things to do.

During your second summer, you went on an airplane and we travelled to Nova Scotia for a holiday. You loved it; the air, the sea and the sun. The change in cabin pressure, not so much. Every so often, when you’d point and excitedly tell me that there’s a plane flying way up there, I’d ask you if you remember that once, you were in a plane just like that one. You’d look at me for awhile, but never answer. If only you knew.

You have many loves in your life. You love your books and your trips to the library. Your love affair with industrial vehicles knows no limit. It can only be matched by your fondness for animals and sports. While books have been an interest of yours from early on, moving images has drawn more of your attention in the last few months. Before you would lose interest in a TV show or a movie within seconds. But now, you can watch an hour’s worth of animation. It started with the documentary Babies, you have since moved towards a slightly unhealthy obsession with Toy Story 3. For about 2 months now, you have mastered the four gesture sequence to unlock and play the movie on our iPad. While you have never seen it from start to finish in one sitting, you, your mother and I have collectively watched enough of Toy Story 3 to know all the lines. You also enjoy watching sports with your dad. For this I take complete responsibility. Hockey has been very helpful during your night time toothbrushing routine.

And of course, you are crazy in love with ice cream. You rarely get ice cream, but when you do. It changes you. 

You have grown much in the last 12 months, people often remark how you seem to be the height of a 3 year old. While that may be true, your pant size seems to have plateau’d at 24 months. Your backside (lacking) to gut (Buddha-sized) ratio is to blame for this. 

Something major has happened in the last 6 months. Your folks started a business. You have had a seat at the corporate table as we decided on decisions and created creations. We both wanted to build something for our family. Our goal was to create something that would allow us to spend more time as a family in the future, but ironically, this has forced us to sacrifice some time with you right now. It’s been hard, and we’ve had to sacrifice a lot, but we hope that one day, that you can enjoy some of its rewards.

Something else has happened recently. You now sleep with us, in our bed, leaving your new toddler bed alone each night. You have never been a good sleeper, which is a rather odd statement since sleeping is such a natural thing. Since your first day home from the hospital, you have been in your own bed. Your late night wakings become more and more frequent, so we decided to bring you to our bed. The entire family is sleeping much better. Working late into the night, I know that I love coming to bed to see you and your mom dozing away peacefully. I love it. Even with your frequent late-night flying elbows, knees and slaps. 

Somethings hasn’t changed in the last year. You still offer a hug and a kiss with ease. Even with the toils and turmoil that comes from being a precocious 2year old, your tenderness has not disappeared. You offer your love with sincerity and strength my sweet little man. Your mom and I love you very much, we continue to watch you with pride as you barrel towards life with great gutso. 

Love,

Dad