My Precious Boy

Dear Saku,

What a year it has been. You turned one year old last Thursday. You are officially not a baby anymore, but a sweet, spirited and wild little boy. We love you even more than we did when we first got to hold you and thought that you were the most precious thing in the world.

You cry a lot less than you used to:) You smile and make a lot of noise. You still aren't saying any words, but you make "dadadada" and "mamamama" sounds; however, they still aren't directed to me or isi. You sign milk, bye bye and thank you. Last night, you were playing with your cars and made the "car sound" as you pushed the car on the carpet. I thought that was the most adorable thing in the world. You also know to point to the picture of Jesus when we ask "where Jesus is?" Last night, when you got into trouble and isi was telling you "no", you kept pointing to the picture of Jesus as if to tell isi to be nice to you:)

You like to be a helper nowadays. We have tried washing dishes together and putting things in the trash. Of course, you thought it would be fun to put your toys in the trash too. You get excited when we ask you to do things and praise you afterwards. It is your official job to close to garage door when we get home. Even if I happen to do it, you still clap for me for a job well done.

On your birthday, we opened presents from Aunt Anna and Aunt Aino. You loved the noise and lights that Aunt Anna's toy made and the hammer was pretty sweet as well.

The water gun is still a little out of your league, but you were cracking up as äiti and isi would spray each other.

Sorry we didn't do a party for you this year. It doesn't mean that you don't have friends or that we don't love you. Life has been just too crazy and we wanted to spend time as a family. Next year, I promise to give you one heck of a party.

You enjoyed the candle.

Then isi helped you to blow it out.

You thought that the cake was pretty good, but that's nothing new since your parents have been feeding you sweets for months now:)

You even wanted to share some of your cake with isi. You love sharing your food with us and feeding us. I hope you will always be this willing to share things with others. I think this will change in the next year though;)

This is your smiley, happy face. You are so busy doing things and getting to places that it is difficult to get you to stop for a second and smile at the camera. We love your smile.

Aunt Aino also gave you a sweet shirt from H&M and a soccer jersey (England one). Thanks Aino for making our boy stylish. You like climbing up on things. Isi taught you how to stand on top of the hamper and lift up your arms in the air as if you were waving for a victory.

You LOVE airplanes and birds. We tried to get your attention as you were playing in the backyard and you kept ignoring us until I said "Saku where's the airplane?" And then you promptly turned towards us and pointed to the sky. We think that you are pretty clever and smart boy, but obviously we are biased:)

Grandma and Grandpa Grossarth came to visit us on Friday. They gave you two new outfits and a big boy book. Grandma, we have read that book about 100 times so far:)

You wanted to kick off one of your sandals.

Then proceeded to climb up on the chair.

And crawl across the table...

To check out how the view is on the other side of the table. I told you that you just don't stop moving:)

You are very interested in animals. It might be due to some quality time spent with baby einstein movies with animals, but either way, you are learning your animals:)

You don't walk anymore; you run to places. Or when you think you are really smooth, you walk backwards.

Few weeks ago, we got you a big boy car seat and I think you like the change.

I hope when you and I look back at these pictures one day, you will know how treasured you are. How everyday is filled with so much love and excitement and some exhaustion as well. You love when we do family hugs and are eager to give us kisses. You enjoy your friends and are learning what it means to play with others.

Isi and I truly feel incredibly blessed to be your parents. I know you have learned so much this past year, but you have also taught us a great amount.

Life changes things all the time, but one thing will never change, isi and I will always love you.

Love, Äiti