As you probably guessed, I am now a grandmother, and I wanted to share how I feel about this glorious event in the life of my son and his family via a letter I drafted to my grandson. Have you written letters to your baby grandchildren?
Dear Baby Brooks,
As you will come to know, you and your parents love to be outside. Although you live in the big city of London, you have beautiful life spent outside. I am your Nana, and I came to spend over a month in your house when you were just two, and then three months old.
If You Could See What I See
I enjoy your backyard or the nearby park at least five times a day. I see how you are spending your time falling in love with the people and the world around you.
Brooks, with a name of tree and water spirits, you are safe in a world of love. Your mom and dad share you easily with family and close friends. They seem to know that the more love we give to you, the more love there is to go around. And I am beginning to realize that being brave might be the same with them too.
You Are a Dream Sleeper
You are a dream sleeper. If you could see how this saves us and restores us every night. Although you are just three months old you have slept all through the night in your own room. Your mom (my lovely daughter-in-law) sleeps from the time she gives you your “dream feed” at 11 pm to help you to sleep through the night. Your dad (my son) comes into your bedroom at 7 am. You greet him with smiles that create rapture while you move your legs and arms with the excitement of new daylight, love, and attention.
As soon as you get on to the diaper change table – which we now call your massage table – you smile as he tells you how beautiful and amazing you are. He massages your arms, feet, legs, shoulders, and tells you how lucky we are to have you in our lives. You smile, look into his eyes and coo something gentle that feels and sounds like you feel the same way, too.
Your Mornings Outside
As I write this, it is late August 2025. Your dad gives you your bottle after he wraps you in a warm blanket, takes you in his arms to the outdoor couch in your soft green backyard. On either side, white jasmine flowers bloom and give off a heavy sweet scent of summer. The front facing wall is lush green bamboo.
The evening before, your mom pumped breast milk so that your dad can give this to you in your bottle in the morning. This is her way of giving your dad the great gift of you fixing your eyes on his eyes as you hum pure sounds of mmmmm with each draw of that magic breast milk. You snuggle deep into your dad’s arms. He is in heaven, and you are too.
Your dad wakes up before you do, hurrying to get ready for work so that he can spend every minute he can with you before he leaves. One morning, when I thought he was bound to get late, your day said with a smile, “I get to have 5 more minutes with him, Mom.”
Your Days Outside
Your mom wakes to help get you ready to walk your dad to work through the park. Together we smile, laugh, and talk about you. We say what a beautiful morning it is as you gaze up into the tree branches. Our mood is contagious; everyone smiles as we go by.
It is difficult for your dad to say goodbye for the day to you and your mom. He would love to stay with you and says so.
Your New Community
A few hours after that, your mom will meet a few other new moms who live close by. Each of you babies in your stroller (peers of prenatal Baby Bump classes) are the sole topic of conversation and attention. As your mom and her friends laugh and talk together, they might stop to breast feed on the grass or a park bench.
Your dad makes a point of having a Friday drink outside with his local Baby Bump new dad group. You, Brooks, are creating a new local community for you, your mom and dad.
Fun Is Our Practice
Your mom knows how good it feels to be outside with you and her friends with babies. She knows how to look after herself while looking after you. She takes you to outdoor boot camp or yoga in the park for mothers and babies.
If you cry, your mom stops and nurses you until you feel better again. She calms you and you calm her out there in the park. You are “co-regulating your nervous systems” – soothing and quietening one another under the trees. Your heart rate affects her heart rate, her breathing slows with yours, you both calm when you are close, the warmth of your bodies is relaxing. Together you are balanced.
This is how it is right now. We are caring for you in the moment. If you are uncomfortable for some unknown reason, you shift the focus to joy with your smile. You create positive spirals in our thinking. We talk about what is going right, we wonder, and we make social connections. Happiness and fun become our practice with you at the centre of it all.
Your parents and grandparents are lucky to have you in our life. We love you so much, Baby Brooks!
Questions for the Community:
Have you become a grandma recently? Have you written a letter to your grandchild? If not, but would like to, what would you write?
