Dear Beanie, 9 months 19 days.

Dear Beanie,

I've wanted to write to you for months now, and I've finally decided to begin. Right now I'm sitting on our red couch, the washing up is in the sink, the laundry is in the basket and your toys are strewn across the living room (and the kitchen... and the dining table....). You are in your room right next to me, snoozing away.

You are nine and a half months old (though I can barely believe it) and the reason why I have decided to start writing to you is simple. You amaze me every day. Every single day, you do something new and something that makes me boggle. Sometimes they are big things, like finally crawling forwards after two months of only being able to move backwards and getting stuck underneath all the furniture, and sometimes they are small things, like the time when you opened the door by pushing down on the handle - something you had obviously been watching me do for months. But it is the little things that are sometimes the most fun. The little things are the things that come so unexpectedly and always make me laugh. I don't want to forget those little things, and I want you to know the joy that they bring to me.

Poor little sick boy at the doctor. 

You are very sick at the moment, little Bean, and yet you are still my joy. I know that you are in a lot of pain, my love, and it hurts to have even water from a spoon, and yet you still have your moments throughout the day where you explore and discover and laugh a raspy, sore-throated laugh.  Today you discovered the tea drawer and the way you can pull out the canisters and use them as rattles. You also did your creeping along this very couch and when I played pat-a-cake with your hands, tapping them one after the other, you then copied me and clapped your hand against mine. And, of course, then looked at me cheekily. It's these little things that amaze me!

'You're writing a letter to ME, Mummy?'

Alright, you are awake now... you're not a happy waker, that's for sure! Even when you are totally healthy. I just had to pull out all stops: Read your 'That's not my Puppy!' book, then your 'There was an Old Lady' book, and then, when that didn't work, pull out the bubbles. Here you are right now, watching me finish this post, almost with a smile on your little face.

I love you, little Bean! Until tomorrow, where you discover something else amazing.

Love, Mummy.