The First Year

Scott,
Last night we put you to sleep as our baby and this morning you woke up as our little toddler. So much has happened in just 365 days and you've grown so much. With each day you learn a little bit more, grow a little bigger and get even cuter. We think you are the greatest thing on earth.

In the middle of the night one year ago, we raced off to the hospital, having just sold our family's first house in Ottawa. We were planning big changes for that year, but nothing could compare to the excitement of having you join our family. Until that point, we had only seen blurry ultrasound images of you moving around in your mom's tummy. As the sun rose above the horizon on April 25th, it filled the long windows of delivery room at the Ottawa Civic Hospital with rich, bright light. Minutes later, at 7:34am, you were born.

It had been a tough journey for you, and your head had been squeezed into a leaning cone shape. Squinting against the unfamiliar sensation of sunlight, you waited quietly while the nurse wrapped you in a tight bundle and let me hold you for the first time. For the next hour I held you in one arm and your mom's hand in the other while the doctor took care of her. Finally, after 9 months of living together, you got to meet your mom. You two have hardly been apart since then.

... but your head isn't cone-shaped anymore.

When you were first born, you really didn't do much but sleep, eat and lift your head. We were very proud that you could lift your head so well. With time, you became much more aware of the world around you, and you decided you preferred to look at things from a standing position. You have strong little legs and you have always been happiest when you could hold onto us for balance and jump, jump, jump.

And you laugh, laugh, laugh.

Not only are you a cute little boy, you are also a happy little boy. Everyone we meet loves your big blue eyes and your wide, toothless grin. They also comment that you are exceptionally well-behaved. Although you love to romp around and play at home, in public you go mute. When faced with strangers, you prefer to carefully observe before venturing forward. That hesitation fades fairly quickly and you are very open to strangers, willing to climb into anyone's arms after a brief period of acclimatization.

At home you are hilarious. You crawl circles around the house and you hoot at everything. Point and Hoot. When you see something interesting, you point a chubby finger at it and say "Oooh, Ooooh!" in a surprisingly husky voice. What a change from the first few months, when your uncle thought you sounded much like a squeaky toy. Your range is impressive.

So far, your favourite toys are the remote control, the phone, car keys, the computer mouse, the piano, and anything else that is electronic with buttons. Some other favourites are your white monkey and the ceiling fan. I used to always lift you up to let you pull the cord for the fan -- which you loved. I would point at it and say, "fan". You would even make an attempt at it, saying "Rah". We were sure that your first word was going to be fan, but now it will probably be something else, like rabbit. [Point and Hoot]

There is so much more to say about your first year -- more than I can say here -- luckily, we have a blog and more than a thousand photographs to help us tell the story.

Happy Birthday Scotty.

From Mom and Dad.