My sweet baby boy,

You are seven months old. When you look in the mirror at yourself, you smile the brightest smile. You kiss your reflection. You love your body. You love yourself.

I hope that you always love yourself, my child, for you are amazing. You are unique. No one is exactly like you. No one has your exact nose, or eyes, or legs, or toes. No one can replace you.

I hope to teach you that your body is an incredible thing. It can move and grow. It can get hurt. It can heal.

Your body might get pudgy. Or skinny. You might be short, or tall. Your body might be covered in hair, or pimples, scars, or freckles. All of these things are ok. Bodies are ALWAYS changing. I never want you to feel ashamed of your body.

I want to teach you to respect other people’s bodies. We are all different colors and shapes. No two bodies are exactly alike. (Yes, even twins.)

Our bodies do not need to be fixed with diets or surgery. There are people who do not agree with this. They think that fat bodies are bad, and that people need to look a certain way to be beautiful. I hope that you don’t listen to these people, because they are very, very wrong. Our bodies are perfect in their variety.

We feed our bodies healthy foods and exercise our bodies to feel strong and happy. But doing those things does not make us a better person than someone else. Goodness comes from your heart, not from how you look.

I want to teach you that women’s bodies and men’s bodies are different, but that doesn’t mean that one is better than the other. Women can be strong, too. Women’s bodies sometimes get pregnant, and have periods, and breastfeed babies. These things aren’t weird or gross.

I want to teach you that no one should touch your body unless you want them to. No one should make you feel bad about your body. It’s not ok to touch someone that doesn’t want to be touched. It not ok to do or say something that makes someone feel hurt.

Your body will grow. Your body will take you all over the world. Your body is yours. Your body is imperfect, but in those imperfections it is unique and beautiful. I hope that you will always see it that way.

For now, I will watch you look in the mirror and smile at your reflection. And I will look in the mirror and smile at my reflection, too.