Dear John - You Were Once A Newborn.

Whistling, your new skill is whistling. I can remember trying to learn how to whistle when I was younger, obviously a lot older than you are now to be able to hold that memory. It amazes me that such a tiny little human can hold such a skill -- there's adults I know that can't even whistle. Maybe I'm just being nostalgic.

Last night I glanced in the direction of our family photos wall and there you were. There's some more recent photos up there but the one I found my eyes fixated on was your Bounty photo.

It could be down to the fact I'd read an article on Bounty's behaviour in hospitals earlier that day and it was already on my mind, but I think it was because my heart longed for one more cuddle with that beautiful baby, just 1 day old, the one that had that infamous newborn smell.

You're fast asleep in that photo. I forget how much a newborn baby sleeps, spending very little time actually awake. I look at my little sausage now and think of how you've come along leaps in terms of sleep recently (aside from the recent 5am wakings, but we'll forgive that). Even sleeping was seething you had to learn -- the difference from day & night, how to stay asleep for longer than two hour stretches, how to settle yourself to sleep... All these things you've soaked up, learnt on your own in time.

When I think of all the things you've learnt in just 17 months of existence I beam with pride for you. The little things, like how to pick up food, to picking daisies. And the big, like how to eat solid foods, to taking your first steps. Even though I'll always yearn for one last newborn cuddle, each day you learn something new, I'll find myself prouder than I even thought possible. Plus a whistling toddler is pretty hilarious to witness, especially since you can't even talk yet!