you are your daddy's best friend in the whole world jude.  you two are two peas in a pod and all the other analogies that fit.  watching you two play in the new snow this past week and even better, going sledding, has made me so happy to have you little boy.  you are so brave.  seriously, there is not a braver boy in all the world.  the word that describes you, if there were only one, would be joyous. everything you do you do with joy.  you are so happy and kind, but also joyful.  i love you with such fierce intensity that every single time you took off on that hill i felt my heart in my throat because you wear it with you you know.  and yet every time you made it to the bottom laughing and smiling all the way, i realized that in order to let you grow into the man that you are intended to be, i have to watch sometimes from the sidelines and just let things unfold.  there is more to you than me... i just now am understanding that.  and that, my child, is hard.  to know you are more than just me, you are you.  i love the child you are and the man you will be.