dear pratt.

dear pratt,

it's hard to remember what your dad and i did before you arrived. last night, dad made dinner while i played with you in your bumbo seat. if allowed, your father would eat noodles or rice with chicken or shrimp every single night of the week. last night, he made a pad thai noodle with shrimp. it was yummy.

when i first met him, he was allergic to rice. it made his ears puffy and red and they would itch like crazy. but the allergy has gone away. who knows where. we started dating in the month of december. the following february, he made me a valentine's dinner. it was chicken and fried rice, grandpa joe's recipe. i thought i was going to have to take him to the emergency room during the dinner. his throat kept closing up on him...but he refused to stop eating. it was romantic. i mean, i knew cpr and everything...so i pretty much had it covered.

you love to watch us make anything. i guess with every new color, every new sound...sight...all of it is a learning experience for you. i was boiling water the other day and you just stared at the steam coming up from the pot. if anyone were with us during the day...or had a secret video camera on us...they would think i was crazy. i pretty much tell you everything we do. like the day you noticed the steam...well, we got into a discussion that day on water and evaporation and condensation.

this got me worried about how i would answer all your boy questions. i mean, i know that as you get bigger, you're going to have sooo many questions about everything. and i'm not sure i am smart enough to answer everything. i wish i had a little mini-vernon that could fit in my pocket. so that if i wasn't sure about something, i could just pull him out and ask. you'll realize one day that uncle vernon knows everything. he was reading about dinosaurs when he was probably three or four years old.

because i'm most worried about the "boy" questions, i kind of ran some things by your dad the other day on the way to pick you up from camden. i asked things like, "are all cows boys?" and "if an animal has horns...does that mean he's a boy...and are those cows or bulls?" and "what's the difference between a cow and bull?". it seemed that with each answer your dad provided...that answer led to another question. i don't know. i don't know much about farm animals. so you'll need to ask your dad about that stuff.

i can answer questions about pop culture. music. literature. food. well, some food. but you can refer most of those questions to cookie. and if it's about fancy cooking, uncle andy knows a lot about that too. things like coq au vin. and other stuff you'll hear on top chef.

you make me want to learn more. read more. soak up more. so that one day, we can have wonderful conversations. some of my most favorite memories of childhood involve listening to my mom or my dad. mom would talk to us as she cooked. and we would watch. my dad knew pretty much everything about everything. he was the world's best jeopardy player. but when the category "culinary arts" popped up, mom would come running in from the kitchen to get everything right.

i hope you love home as much as i love home. only now, that we've had you...do i consider here, home. this is big for me. as there are few things i love more than being at home. the smell of my parents house is something i will never, ever forget. the feel of being there. i hope you like it here. your dad works so hard for you to like it here.

okay, well, i need to get back to cleaning. little anderson is spending the night with us tonight. i can't wait! clara and andy are getting to take a little mini-vacation and spend some time together. and they're leaving anderson here for our first sleepover! woohooo!

this will be the first of many nights that he will sleep over with us! clara said it best when she said this morning in a text message, "so excited to get the boys together, it's better than christmas!"

i know what she means! one day you'll realize the importance of wonderful friends. and i know that anderson will be one of your closest! we love him already soo, soo much!

love you pumpkin.