Rays of sunshine

Dear Ammu and Pattu,

Today has been a day of anticipation.

As I put the two of you to bed and blew air kisses, the last thing I did was to whisper “Happy Birthday baby!” to each of you. You see, you turn a year older today. I have been carefully building up the tempo at home. Counting down the days, picking out a Strawberry Shortcake themed cake, reminding you each day that your birthday is around the corner. My enthusiasm must have been infectious for all I heard this evening were random statements all having the word birthday in them.

A year older. A year smarter.

The two of you talk nineteen to a dozen. You hold your own in ego wars. You make putty out of dad and me. You put together puzzles like it is something that requires no thought and you hum along as you do it. As Boots sings on TV, the two of you join in a full throat-ed chorus and dance along as if there is nothing in the room but Boots and you. You scream and cry copious tears at the drop of a hat. You haggle and bargain with me for an hour on the iPad. You eat all by yourself and pat yourself on the back for spilling ‘only’ on the table and not on the floor. You watch reruns of Princess Sofia for the millionth time and enjoy it as much as you did it the first time. You strap yourself in your car seat and fetch mail from the post box. You ‘help’ mommy with the dishwasher, the stove and the laundry. You ‘computer’ on the laptop mimicking my fingers flying on the keypad. I call home when am driving and you request to talk to me. You chatter away and pause significantly before you say ‘I love you’ slowly and surely. You fling yourselves on me when you are feeling extra affectionate and knock me off-balance laughing as you do.

The walls of our home soak and absorb the laughter, the mayhem and the madness. Each corner features in a memory that is a leaf in my mental diary. When you leave to school each day, I smile and hum as I pick up after you knowing I am incredibly blessed to be your amma.

As each year passes, the happiness you bring to my life explodes. The childish lisp is replaced by thoughtful sentences. The number of things I help you with decreases and I see budding wings poised to take flight. Fly high. Fly safe babies.

You are rays of sunshine in my life. You dance around lighting up our lives and spilling joy wherever you go. May you always be happy.

Happy Birthday my dear daughters.

Love

Amma.