Hi there, It’s not really my birthday today. But it is the 1000th day of my life in the real world, outside my mommy’s tummy. And that calls for a celebration. Well, at least my mom thinks so! And I’m just going with it. After all, who can say no to a celebration with balloons, gifts and pampering? So while my mom stays up late at night and blows air into those very balloons, I thought I’d pen down a letter, to all those who think it would be interesting to hear a baby (my mom refuses to call me a toddler still) share his thoughts on what it is like to be a 1000 days young. A 1000 days is a long time and I have already been through a lot. I am a curious little man and I love to talk all day long, so why not review this interesting life I’ve led till now.

So, here goes…

Dear world,

I have been named Tasmai and although I can’t spell that yet, I do know that “T is for Tasmai.” T must be an important letter of the alphabet because most people who don’t seem to have much time for saying out my name call me babyT. Sometimes I think they don’t really know my name. But that’s ok, it has made me learn this letter faster than all of the others.

Speaking of letters and the alphabet – why is ellemmennohh such a long letter when the rest of them are small, precise and simple sounding, like A, B or C. Anyway I ramble. This is happening so often to me these days. I want to say something that’s on my mind and hey, was that spiderman swinging by that window. Nope, false alarm, that’s just the construction workers outside the window repairing the cracks on our building wall. I am super helpful you know! While they clink and clang away outside our house, I am helping them by drilling, plastering the cracks inside our house with playdoh, slime and some toy bugs thrown in for extra measure. Sad that daddy did not think green goo coloured slime looked fancy on the off-white walls in the hall. But I’ve heard that true art is not appreciated easy. I wait for the day when it will be!

I love making art. Why just the other day, mom and I picked dried leaves from our school garden and back at home we created masterpieces with it. Mom taught me how to punch out shapes from the yellow, brown, red, gold leaves and stick them onto paper. I had to show her that the paper I had painted black and blue, can also be stuck onto the leaves. Did I mention, black is my favourite colour? And it looked so gorgeous on the yellowing leaf. My mom did love my art though. She praised me and then took a million photos of that leaf and then put the photos up on Instagram.

I hear I’m pretty famous on Instagram. There’s a ton of my photos on there about what I wore, what I played with and what I eat. Lots of my mom’s friends love seeing these pictures and leave comments about how cute and smart I am. Hey, aunties, I don’t have to try very hard. This comes naturally to me. Right around the time, I could see my parents clearly (my vision at birth sucked) I remember being asked to smile for the black side of this device called a phone. Heck, I did not know what a smile meant, but when I pressed my lips together and curved the sides of my lips, my parents went nuts. “He smiled. He smiled. Such a smart baby we have, he’s so camera friendly.” That’s when I learnt the meaning of the word smile. Now I do it all the time. Easy peasy! You should try it some time. It makes the viewer of your smile very happy.

So yea I go to school too. I hate leaving my mom behind and all my toys and playdoh too. I beg and cry and sulk when she has me ready and out the door.  But when its time for her to pick me up from school again, I don’t want to come back either. I love singing songs, playing in the gym and jumping around with my friends. Snack times in class are my favourite. I love opening my snack box to see what treats await me.

Pancakes with Slurrpfarm mix

Mommy is a dosa expert. 4 out of 5 days there is a dosa in my snack box. Red, pink, white, brown, green and once even blue dosa. She can conjure it all up. And all the shapes too – triangle, square, diamond-shaped dosas. Someone once told me dosas are supposed to be round. Like, how boring is that?!

Anyway, so I didn’t really feel any different when I woke this morning. It was just another Monday. But when I got home from school I could sense something was off. There were empty boxes and wrapping paper and scissors and sellotape everywhere. I casually walked to my playroom and boy, what did I see? A 1000 balloons, give or take a few hundred. What?? Don’t look at me like that – I can only count to 20. You do the math!

There were balloons and gifts and books!! I had never seen shape balloons like that. One was shaped like a doggy and the other ones were round but had a hole in the middle. I was so so so happy and gave mommy a big hug. I got a new wooden toy where I have to balance small fruit shapes on a square base and then build a tower. It was so much fun! Daddy came home early too. When I woke from my afternoon nap, there he was. I jumped out of bed and gave him a big hug. Then we played with my new toy and read the new books I was gifted. Such a perfect day after all.

Did you enjoy reading my letter? Pls post this to Pinterest, says mom!

I don’t know what my 1001st and the preceding days will look like. But I am sure my mom and dad will make them the best days for me. I trust them like that. They’re kinda weird but still cool. I love ’em! I am growing too fast they say. Hey, mom dad we all have to grow up someday right? I saw your pics from childhood, you two were babies too and today you have me, your baby. I cannot wait to grow up and take care of you. Ok, I’ll admit, I actually cannot wait to grow up and join in on your grown-up fun. I mean you wouldn’t have to drop me off to grandma’s every Friday night then, right?

However, I do hope that I am not so grown up that I forget how to play or how to look at the clouds and imagine all the animal and bug shapes they make. I hope I am not sad like grown-ups are, like why do you guys sulk and that too for days on end. Major eye roll, mom! Stop that, ok? And the clock! I hope I never learn how to tell the time because daddy why do you have to rush to the office when you should actually spend 5 more minutes snuggling up to me in bed. Oh yea, while we are on that topic.. can we get mom another bed now, please? I think she is growing fast and there is no space for me to stretch. But don’t tell her I told you this, ok. Pinky swear?

Gotta go now y’all! I just thought of a genius trick with Playdoh!

Tah-tah, T

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