Happy Birthday, Abuela!

Dear Chicken Nugget,

On July 13th we celebrated your Abuela's 71st Birthday.  She would kill me if she knew I was putting her age in a letter - she likes to tell people that she only celebrates the day of her birth not the number of years she has lived.

We went to a Spanish Tapas restaurant in Manhattan:

Abuela Betty and Santi

We followed that by heading to the Children's Museum of Manhattan:

And then, we surprised your Abuela by getting you a professional haircut, you very first!

Before

 

 

After

Your Abuela thought it was the best birthday she's had in a long time - all because you were a big part of it.


Thank you for making my mom's birthday the best,

Tu papa

Happy Birthday to us!

Dear Chicken Nugget,

On February 8th, your mom and I celebrated our birthday.  She and I share the same birthday, a year apart.

When your mom and I met, it was in passing. She was a coworker of two of my roommates and I was a one of four bachelor guys sharing an apartment that boasted a four foot poster of Snoop Dogg on the wall.

She would occasionally drop by for a school planning session or I would see her at a friendly poker game.  We interacted briefly, I thought she was cute and I liked that she could play poker and beat the guys, but we never really had much of a conversation.

Then, one day, at a friend's surprise birthday party she and I sat across from each other at the bar.  We were talking birthdays and she said hers was in February.  I said, "Oh yeah?  Me too.  When?"

"February 8th."

I smiled. "That's my birthday too."

As I remember it, we stared at each other for a second or two in disbelief and I made some comment about how Aquarians are the best.  And that was that.

A couple of years later I was having dinner on February 8th with her and your Grandma Betty celebrating our birthday.  A couple of years after that we were celebrating our birthday, getting ready to fly to Negril, Jamaica for our wedding.  And, three years after that... you joined us for our birthday.

Birthday dinner with Grandma Betty

The absolute best birthday gift we could ever ask for is you.


Eternally yours,

Tu papa

February: A Month of Celebration

Dear Chicken Nugget,

I haven't written a letter to you in over a month.  Please forgive this brief time away.

There was lots going on in February that I'll be writing about in the next few weeks:
- Your mom and I celebrated our birthday on February 8th (we have the same birthday!)
- We spent our first Valentine's Day with you
- We celebrated our 3rd Anniversary on February 18th
- I spent a week at home for Mid-Winter Recess
- We watched you roll over from your back to your belly - turns out it's harder than it looks
- I saw your first tooth and then watched it vanish
- We filed our taxes two months ahead of schedule
- You ate your first food (sweet potato)
- I officially enrolled in the Libertarian Party
- We taught you your first word in baby sign language (tickle)
- You started missing your parents

This list will probably serve as a sort of preview of the letters to come.  There was so much going on in February and I spent so much great quality time with you and your mom that writing my letters to you became something I kept putting off.  Of course, there's plenty going on in March, but I need to get going again and catch up.

I'll leave you with this, tonight as I pulled out "Ve, Perro,Ve" to read to you, you recognized it (it's one of ten books we read to you every day), smiled, and laughed in excitement as I read the title.

Looks like we have your first favorite book!


Eternally yours,

Tu papa