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an open letter to quinton on the first month anniversary of your birth


my dear quin,

well, what do you think?  since you've emerged into this wider-than-you-realized world, the sun has risen and set some 30-odd times and those of us who keep track of such things can now proclaim that you are having your first month's birthday.  all of this just serves to confuse your older brothers who think you get to have faster and more frequent birthdays than they, but i'm wondering if you really care at all.  if you do, you're keeping your cards close to your chest.  by that i mean that you've spent this morning much like every morning (make that every part of every day) of your life so far: sleeping, crying, eating, and making messes in your pants.  i think that about covers it.  the fact that you've reached an early milestone doesn't seem to phase you. 

in fact, not much phases you.  i am amazed at how you barely seem to notice the way cade likes to stomp and yell near you; how you hardly react when he grabs your arms and legs and moves them around, or gets up in your face and gives you a few thousand kisses in a row.  you just don't let it bother you. 

i'm proud of you for that trait.  here you are in a new world, a new house full of new people who are constantly poking, prodding, smearing, bathing, wiping, changing, kissing, and patting you and you just roll with the punches.  that will serve you well in this family, i think, since you're going to have alot of stuff to put up with over the foreseeable months and years.  you'll be tricked and tickled, made to do the jobs your brothers don't want to to, and restricted from doing the things you're not quite old enough to do.  so stick with the laid-back thing.  it will help you survive. 

and i can't let this moment pass without taking the opportunity to tell you about how much we love you.  yes, we may be annoying, but you need to understand that we mean well.  the flash of the camera is not to irritate your eyes and wake you up, it's just that we want to capture every moment of your life on pixels because we're desperately afraid of how quickly it is passing us by.  the kisses aren't meant to disturb and annoy you; it's just that we want to inhale your pure and precious life and find someway to make you understand that we adore you.  and the wiping and changing, well, that's just to keep you from getting a rash.  but still, it's another way we are saying we love you.  i don't know for sure, but i do pray that you can, in your own way, understand it.  i hope, when your lips curl up in what we like to interpret as a smile, that it's at least something slightly more than gas.  i'm probably wrong, but i like to believe it.  because i like to believe that as you are sleeping in between poops, you are dreaming intensely beautiful and comfortable dreams, because you are resting easy in a wild and tender and completely thorough love which will never let you go. 

so happy one month birthday!  sleep well, and stay relaxed.  but, take it easy on the pooping.  seriously. 

all my love,
daddy.

Comments

cathyq said…
A beautiful letter. Happy 1st Month Birthday Quin. We DO love you! (And miss you too.)

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