Dear Bently,

I am writing this letter not quite sure what I want to say to you. All that enters my mind is how completely happy I am. You make me so happy. You are so sweet. I love your smiles and your giggles. I love singing to you right before I put you to bed. I hate days where I have to leave for work without putting you to bed. I stand there and you lay your head on my shoulder and I sing to you. I can always tell when you are really tired because you'll raise your head and look at me and smile. I just know you are so anxious to get into that bed! I love holding you there because I know someday you are going to be a big boy, you're not going to want me to hold you, or rock you, or sing to you before bed. I can't even tell you how much I dread that day coming. I am trying to hold onto every single second because they are going by too fast! :( Here is a small list of things I never want to forget!

-Every morning when I get you out of your crib you have the biggest smile on your face! Then you hand me each of your stuffed animals in your crib one by one.
-You have started sleeping with a stuffed animal under your arm! It is too cute!
-You have started to giggle at everything! It always makes my day!
-When you walk you hold your hands together or you'll have one hand underneath your chin. It's adorable!!
-You love dogs and will give any dog you meet a hug but not humans!
-You cry when I leave you now. I love it because it means you love me and miss me when I'm gone. But it breaks my heart because I hate to leave you!
-You LOVE bananas. You get so excited when you see one coming your way! :)
-You clap your hands ALL the time and I love it!
-You hate getting dressed/getting your diaper change. As soon as it's off you are on a mad dash out of there! As annoying as it can get I love watching your baby butt crawl across the floor as fast as it can!

I know there are so many more but those are the ones that immediately come to mind. I love you so much my son. I home some day you can read these letters and feel of my love and now how deep it runs! I love you handsome man!
Love,
Mommy

Dear Bently,

You did something amazing today. Let me start at the beginning. I have been wishing you to walk basically since you could crawl! I was so excited to see you taking those little baby steps. Everyone told me to be patient, that I shouldn't rush you, I would regret wishing you to walk. But you are my first baby. I was so excited to see you grow and learn. I was convinced you would be walking by your first birthday. That came and went. National average is 12 months 2 weeks...that came and went. So I had basically given up hope. Your Dad and I had a running joke that you couldn't drive until you could walk. Yes we thought it might take you that long. It's not that you didn't have the ability. You could stand unassisted and even walk pretty much by yourself. You just refused to do it. You were steady as a rock, but the second we let go of your hands, down to the ground you would drop. You were too chicken. Yesterday, June 10, 2012, I was holding your hands as I walked you into the family room. I stopped in the middle of the room and let go. To my surprise you just stood there. Unassisted. I said, "Walk Bently." Your Dad could see your face, he said you looked over at him and smirked. Then you, steady as rock, like you had done it for years, took 6-7 full steps across the room. Your Dad and I just watched in absolute silence and shock. I immediately began to cry. My baby looked so grown up walking himself across the room. I had been terrified that I would miss your first steps. Working 40+ hours a week and sleeping during the day makes me miss a lot of quality time. I was so ecstatic that I got to see your first steps. You reached the chair in the corner of the room, turned around and grinned. We probably freaked you out with our out of control reactions. I was crying and clapping and shouting. Your Dad was beaming with pride. It was something I will never forget. You went from zero interest in walking, to walking your little baby butt across the room. I don't think I have ever been so proud of anything in my whole life. I whisked you right up and gave you about a million kisses. One of the very best moments of my life!!! Thank you for letting me be a part of it! Now we just got to convince you to do it all the time! You have shown no interest since that moment. But I'm not so anxious anymore. I am just so very grateful I got to witness it. Thank you for that Bently. It meant more to me then I'll ever be able to describe to you! I love you my little man. I love you so so so much!
Love,
Mommy

Dear Bently,

Son you are the cutest thing I have ever seen. I feel like you just keep getting cuter and cuter. I am so worried that I am going to forget all the adorable things you do so here it goes.
-You love looking out the window! More often then not I find you standing at the family room window just looking. Everything outside just amazes you!
-On that note, you love being outside. You always are trying to get outside and enjoy the world. I feel bad that we don't take you outside more. You love playing on the grass and looking at all the cars driving by. You point at every single car. I say, "Oh ya a car" and you grin like you are the smartest baby in the world. Which of course you are! :)
-You can now play pass with your ball. We can sit a couple feet away from you and you roll the ball to us and we roll it straight back to you. You smile the whole time. You love it!
-You clap for yourself all the time! You love it when people pay attention to you, and clapping does that. You know if you clap that everyone will clap with you and watch what you are doing. It's hilarious. You'll do something, look around to make sure we're watching then clap. Then you do something else and the cycle repeats itself. I don't mind. I love watching you smile!
-You and your Dad are very best friends. You lite up when he enters a room. You giggle at him all the time! You guys just love each other and I love watching you together!
-You have recently learned to "growl". I can't even describe the noise you make but you make it all the time! It's kind of hilarious and kind of annoying! I will have to see if I can get it on film so you'll understand what I mean!
-You and I have a tradition. I put you to bed every night I can. Which is basically every night. We rock, we read your train book, we brush your teeth, but my favorite part is right before I lay you down. You know it's coming so we enter your room I turn off the lights and put on your night lite. Then you willingly lay your little head on my shoulder and I slowly sway back and forth as I sing to you a song. It's a little quiet moment in time where I can just enjoy being with you. Away from the hussel and bussel of the world. A moment where I can pretend you are my little baby again snuggling with me like you used to! You smile the whole time I sing then I kiss you remind you a hundred times that I love you and lay you down. It's the best moment! Honestly I look forward to it every night!

Bently I hope through these letters your realize how much I honestly and truly love you. How honored I feel to be your Mom. How much I truly appreciate you, that you're healthy, that you were sent to me. I take my responsibility very seriously! I can't wait for more years together! I love you like only a Mom can!
Love,
Mom