Hiiiiiii! Mama was going to write a letter to all our friends and family to tell them how we are doing, but I like to type. (And dance. I really like to dance. It is so much fun. I like jammin.) So I get to type. (With Mama getting in the way too.)

Mama and Daddy (and other people who I think I am supposed to know) tell me that I have a birthday coming up on December 23rd. They say I’ll be a whole year old. I don’t really know what a birthday is but I’m sure it will be fun. As long as I get to run around. Sometimes we go places with people and I have to be in the torture device (Mama and Daddy call it a ‘car seat’) or sit on people’s laps and I don’t like that. I like to explore!

Mama also says Christmas is coming up and that she and Daddy brought me home on Christmas day. I like coming home. Every time Mama and Daddy say “We’re home!”, I know I can get out of the torture device. I even arch my back to help, though Mama and Daddy don’t seem to think I’m helping. I got to help Mama set up the Christmas tree which was kind of fun though I just mostly played with the branches. Once I got over being concerned. Mama told Daddy I was scared, but I wasn’t scared. I was just checking things out. Mama gave me lights. She looked like I was supposed to be excited. The lights were okay. They were more fun when I figured out I could make them jump. I like figuring out how things work and how I can get into them and if I can get Daddy or Mama to yell and swoop down and pick me up. I like the swooping. It’s fun!

I like seeing what I can make Daddy do. He spends all day with me, though he tries typing too. I don’t like that so I try and see what he’s doing or if I can make the page move or if I can make him scold me. Then I know I can get him to play with me. I really like it when he sits on the floor. Then I can climb over him and get him to tip me backwards and roll me and all sorts of fun things. Sometimes I must talk too much because Daddy puts me in the home torture device (I think Mama calls it ‘playpen’’) and I don’t like that. It’s sometimes fun, but then I’m by myself because Daddy is busy doing something in the kitchen. It involves water and I like water! And I think I could help but Daddy doesn’t, so I’m by myself and I fall asleep in the home torture device because it’s boring.

Baths are the best time of the day except when Mama shoves that bristly thing that sometimes taste like apples in my mouth. I don’t like that. (Mama calls it ‘brushin my teeth’.)

But it’s never boring when Daddy says, “Benjamin, somebody’s coming.” I know this means Mama is coming home and I get so excited! I squeal when Mama comes through the door because I only get her in the evening and sometimes in the morning and on the days when we go to church and the day before we go to church and some random days that I don’t understand. So I like to spend as much time with Mama as I can. Unless I want to take a nap. Then I want Daddy and blankie. Daddy’s good for napping and blankie is good for burying my face in. Mama brings home papers and metal things. I can’t play with the papers; she tells me her students wouldn’t like that. I don’t know what students are. I sometimes find the metal thingies on the ground and try to bite them, but Daddy always takes them away. He and Mama had a talk and now I find less of them. This makes me sad.

I am excited to see what birthdays and Christmas is all about and to see if I can learn new things. I love meeting people, so come home if you want too!