Hey bud,

Today was your second day of daycare.  From what we were told, it went well.  You only cried a few times, when you were hungry or tired.  When you got home, you started sticking your tongue out a lot.  It was pretty funny.  You’ve become quite the giggler.  

From Your Dad

Hey dude,

Your mom and I are very busy preparing for your arrival.  A few months back, we met with our insurance agent to get some life insurance so that if something happens to one, or both, of us, you will be well taken care of. You’re welcome.

But it got me thinking, sure, financially you will be taken care of.  There will be food on your plate, clothes on your body, a roof over your head; but we wouldn’t be able to pass on the knowledge about life that is so very important too.  Or the stories that give some context to your background and family history.  That’s why I started writing you these letters.  There are things I want you to know in case something ever happens to me.  So these letters are essentially knowledge insurance.

I’m intending to include things like:

• Family Recipes – what are our go-to items that we make on a fairly consistent basis and how to make them.
• Stories – The ones we repeat over and over because they are funny, or they teach us something about ourselves.
• Life Lessons I’ve Learned – This one might not provide much value. Sometimes you have to learn the lessons for yourself instead of someone telling you what they’ve learned. But maybe you’ll find a nugget or two in there.
• Current events that you will be too young to remember – When I was a kid, there was so much going on in the world that I was completely oblivious too. When I think back on what was happening, it’s pretty remarkable that I missed it, but in all fairness, I was busy building some pretty sweet things out of Legos.
• Daily life – What was daily life like when you were younger. I wish I had this information now. I remember some, but not a lot.

I hope you find all of this useful. If anything it’ll help me remember things. I don’t want to scare you, but there is a history of Alzheimer’s on my side of the family. Hopefully, by the time you get to an age where it would be a concern, they’ve figured out how to cure it.

From Your Dad

Hey Little Fella,

You aren’t even here yet, but I’m wondering what is going through your head.  I also wonder how someone has thoughts without having a language to work off of.  It would seem that language helps structures thoughts and feelings, but without language, I wonder how you are filing away things that you learn, even at this “not yet born” stage.

You certainly are busy doing something, mom woke up this morning, and you were going crazy.  I placed my hand on her stomach and you were kicking and punching away.  We thought that maybe her stomach was grumbling and all the noise was bothering you, so I put my ear to her stomach to see if I could hear anything, and you kicked me in the face (or maybe punched me).  Regardless, you are obviously very busy in there.  Not sure what you are doing, but keep up the good work, just don’t keep mom up at night.

From Your Dad

Hey little guy,

You aren’t here yet, but we’re pretty excited to see you in person. I thought I’d write you some letters now because there are things I want to tell you, but you aren’t here yet. And even if you were here, you would be way too young to understand what I’m talking about.

For now, we are just waiting for your arrival. We have a few more things to buy before you arrive (i.e. Crib), but most everything else we’ll just play by ear. People ask us a lot of questions, like: is the nursery ready, what is the theme, which colors have we chosen to decorate. The answers are: I guess it is, the theme is baby, and the nursery color was chosen by the previous owner, so taupe. I hope you like taupe, it’s a very non-threatening color.

Later this week, we are going to a birthing class. Something humans have been doing for generations, we have to go to a class to learn how to do it. Doesn’t really make sense. I’m guessing years ago, when humans were more tribal in nature, giving birth was a village event, and everyone participated in some way. You would learn the birthing process just like you would learn a language, by being exposed to it routinely. Now we only do births in hospitals (unless you are a hippie), and what was formerly diffused knowledge is now concentrated with medical professionals, due to a concept known as separation of labor.

This is getting pretty dry. On a cooler note, I’m building you a changing table. It is my first major furniture project since I’ve decided to take up woodworking. And since it is my first project, I figured might as well make something that gets pooped on, that way I won’t feel so bad if it doesn’t work out.

Hope everything is going okay inside the womb.

From Your Dad (this feels weird to type as a reference to me)