21 months later...

You wake up calling out to me,
I am the last word you speak before going to sleep.
You make me smile,
You make me scream,
You make me want to be a better person.
I love your joy, your sense of fun,
The way you dance on the bed,
Or the way you twist and hide yourself in the curtains.
The way you walk on your toes,
and the way you throw your hands out to me.
Your energy seems to be in inverse proportion to mine.
You are loud and assertive, unafraid of authority,
You cannot be cowed down by shouts or stern expressions.
You throw yourself on the floor at the least provocation.
I love your spirit
and your unexpected hugs and kisses,
rare as they are precious.
I love how you call me both 'mama' and 'dada'
(And how you do the same for your father)
The way you try so hard to communicate,
stringing words together with some unintelligible sounds in between.
The way you say 'come' for 'go'
And 'down' for 'up'.
The way you call both a rooster and a crocodile, 'crawk-a-doody-doo'
And speaking of animals, you can't get enough of them
From the 'tat' (cat) and 'dog'
To the 'athen' (elephant), 'uppo' (hippo) and 'makki' (monkey)
Or even the 'rhindo' and 'jiaff'
The inexplicable one is the 'bada', as you've christened the zebra.
Or 'di-do' as you call the tiger.
I enjoy hearing you sing
Your favorite songs are 'Head shoulders knees and toes'
And 'Twinkle twinkle'
'Winko winko itti tal' - you sing it.
There are times when I can't wait for you to fall asleep
And there are times when I am tempted to wake you up
So I can enjoy your shenanigans.
I learn (and unlearn) new things every day
About you,
About myself.
Am so lucky I get to be
Your mom.