Dear Mini-me,

the apartment is a mess. I have been working too much too late lately and I don’t even care. It’s a charming chaos. The laundry piles up and in the mornings I get worried not to find anything clean to dress you with. When I pick you up from daycare, you smile and wink at me. Instead of leaving, you invite me to join in the fun. Jump in the ball bath, crawl in the box or climb on the slide. To any question I ask you, you say yes, nod, and twinkle, again. When we pass the playground on the way home but don’t stop, you start grouching loudly, kicking my butt from behind. When you are on top of the slide, ready to throw yourself down, you wink at me again. Reassuring yourself that I see how grown up you are, already. And I see it. Damn.

While taking my shower in the morning, you try to climb into the tub. You pull the curtain to the side and we echo each other’s “heeeelllooooo”. Back and forth. You babble all day. Sometimes, when I pause when reading your bedtime story, you just continue narrating in Chinese. You have started to copy the lullabies I sing to you. You clap and cheer me on. Sometimes my eyes get watery, because I just can’t bear how fast you grow. While I wait until you fall asleep, you twinkle to check if am still there, looking at you. In the mornings, when I am still asleep, you sit down on my face to make sure that I don’t sleep while you are awake. I might miss something. And you are right.

Mini-me, I love you so.

All photos: Carolin Weinkopf