Dearest Mads,

This is your 22 month letter- I can't believe it- soon I will be writing to you to celebrate your second birthday. How time flies. In some ways it feels like you have been with us forever, we cannot imagine life without you now, but some days I have to pinch myself that I have a toddler.

I pinch myself a lot when I am around you. It sounds incredibly cheesy but sometimes I have to sit back and look at my life and realise how truly lucky I am. Last weekend we were lying in bed, we were all watching Peppa Pig on the ipad- I was holding Daddy's hand, you were snuggled in the middle of us, and the baby in my tummy was kicking away. It was one of those pinch me moments where you realise there is nowhere in the world you would rather be.

There is not any part of you that is a baby now. You are a little girl. You chatter constantly, and you say new words every day. Apparently by two, ideally children need to be saying around twenty words. You must say at least 200, if not a lot more, in fact everything we say you copy us. We have to watch ourselves around you now. The other day you dropped something and said 'Oh God,' both Daddy and I looked at each other and tried not to laugh- it is so funny what you pick up.

In the car you just chatter non stop, it is fine on short journeys but we have made a few longer ones recently and by the end of it we are so tired. Everything is 'Mama, Dada,' and you just talk ten to the dozen- 'Mama Mads shoes, Dada Mads shoes. Mama lunch, Dada lunch, Mads lunch,' you have to repeat it to everyone, including yourself, even though we are all in the car together.

On my days off, I love having fun with you- we have got into a bit of a routine where we go out in the morning on a Thursday or Friday, normally to soft play, someone's house or the garden centre- we then come home and you have been having a 2-3 hour nap in the afternoon- I must admit Mummy needs these naps at the moment because as wonderful as you are, you are also going through a very tiring stage. But I wouldn't change a single aspect of your personality- you are a strong minded, feisty, intelligent, loveable and incredibly affectionate little person- I am so proud of who you are becoming.

Yes your tantrums are still there, mainly when you are tired, but luckily the happy you is more often presenst. If you don't want to do something you lie down on the floor or just cry- a lot of it revolves around you being tired at lunch or dinner, and then you don't want to eat your food- it is so hard to be firm with you and not give you anything else as I worry about you going to bed hungry. Sometimes you won't even attempt to try it, you did that last night with jacket potatoes, beans and cheese, and I know full well if you tried it you would actually think it was rather yummy. But you are a stubborn little thing, just like Mummy can be sometimes.

Mads, I am so proud of you, of the way you cuddle and kiss everyone you see, of the way you are fiercely protective of your Mummy and Daddy, of the way you are so independent and are always the little person who doesn't need Mummy in soft play, but also of the way you still play with Mummy's ears and how we snuggle on the sofa and watch Peppa Pig together. The way you learn something new every day, and how every one says you are developed well beyond your years.  Of the way you lie on the bed and ask us both to join you for 'family cuddles.'

Above all I am just proud that you are mine.

Mummy loves you more than anything in the world.  But as always you already knew that.

Mummy

xx