Dear Mrs. Baby,
You have become very interactive this month and are showing the first signs of becoming mobile! In an effort not to forget things, I've been sending 1-line memories from my phone to my email. So many things you do give me so much delight and I am sure I will never, ever forget the joy in that moment. Then give it a couple days or weeks and we're off to the next phase and that memory is forgotten. My darling, I have always cried over spilled milk even though I know how useless that can be. But you are always changing and there seems to be a new thing every day. So, I will try to capture those small moments in a way that is not melancholy, but celebratory. Because there is more to come and I have the privilege of being along for the ride.
This month you clapped for me. On May 28th, I was doing the dishes and you were playing in the living room. I would look over from time to time to check on you and engage you and one time I looked over and you clapped! And you did it again and again. I felt like quite the celebrity, being applauded for chores. =) I had just started showing you clapping a few weeks before and it surprised me that you seemed to pick it up AND direct your practice to me.
Right around the 8 month mark, I spent an entire afternoon switching your clothes over to the 3-6 size! I know you're still on the small side, but no more 0-3. And they fit you really well - we probably should have done it earlier.
You hand is the length of my pinky from the base to the top joint. I wonder how big your hand was when you were born. Time has passed so fast.
The past few days, you've been giving me the biggest smiles! Your Grammy said that your Daddy used to give those type of smiles(the mouth stretched long and thin as can be, the eyes closed to wee little slits) and calls them "line smiles." I tried one today - they kind of hurt the face, actually. You must have good facial muscles.
And you move - mostly rolling and crawling backward - but look away from you for a couple minutes and you will have moved several feet!?!
Our biggest challenges are sleeping and eating. Bed-sharing with you saved my sanity in the newborn period and helped our nursing relationship and I am glad we did it. But as you get a little bigger, the challenge is how to transition you to your own bed so I can spend some time reconnecting with Daddy and have some solo time.
And we had been doing baby-led weaning with you, giving you the same foods we were eating, and it worked really well when we first started. We would give you large pieces of food and you would hold one end and gnaw on the other. Now, though, you shove the entire piece in your mouth. It's scarey for me and I realize that, with your new dexterity, we have to rethink our strategy. Maybe you should graduate down to smaller pieces. You seem to really love mealtimes and are really adventurous in your eating (2 of the proposed "perks" of BLW) but it can be stressful!
I've been trying to teach you sign language so you can communicate with us more easily. Sometimes you get really frustrated and tense your fists and whole body up. I'd love to spare us that disconnect, but I'm not very diligent at teaching you.
Oh, I almost forgot that you had your first day at the pool too! You were SO happy. Even though the water was very cold, you seemed to like putting your toes in. And then you spent a very long time sitting on a towel on the grass, playing with toys and watching the kids trying to make you smile from the pool. It worked better then I thought it would and you seemed really happy. I shouldn't have been surprised - you seem to like crowds. Our little social butterfly.
So you are making leaps and bounds to independence and it's hard to remember the helpless newborn time. And then, try to think about this time next year and it feels impossible! What will be next?
Love,
Mom
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