Dear Carolyn,
My goodness. You’ve been out in the world for as long as I was pregnant with you! The time really has gone by so quickly – in just a few short months I’ll be planning your first birthday party.
You’ve been trying so hard to stand up without pulling up on anything and to climb on things, and you’re so close to walking – I’ve seen you thinking about it a couple of times, when you get to the end of the piece of furniture you’re cruising on and debate whether to try to walk to the next or get down and crawl. Your balance has improved so much since last month, and you frequently stand unassisted for quite a while and then gracefully sit back down.
We’ve had to really get serious about baby proofing, putting locks on all the cabinet doors that you’ve figured out how to open and anchoring furniture to the wall. I feel a little bad, because you love opening and shutting doors, but none of our cabinets are currently all that baby-safe…that’s a project for next month, to give you a cabinet of your own!
You still don’t have any teeth, but I really love those toothless little grins so I don’t mind at all. And your lack of teeth hasn’t stopped you from eating anything I put on your tray. You absolutely love cheerios, banana chunks, graham crackers and black beans. In fact, there really isn’t any finger food you’ve tried that you haven’t enjoyed. I did finally find a food you don’t really like, though: cottage cheese. I think it’s a texture thing for you, but since we’ve only tried it once so far I’m hoping you’ll change your mind. You’ve tried lots of new foods this past month: wheat, blueberries, cherries, zucchini, cheerios, apricots, yellow squash, raspberries, broccoli, potatoes, cottage cheese, cauliflower, black beans, egg yolk and prunes – I’m running out of new foods for you to try! I gave you yogurt again today, and so far it doesn’t seem to be bothering you like it did a few weeks ago.
You’ve learned to babble, and we get treated with endless streams of ba-ba-ba, da-da-da, and ma-ma-ma – although that last one is usually only when you want something. You consistently sign “more” when you want more food, and “milk” both when you want to nurse and when you’re in your high chair and want water. You love to “talk” though, and you try to be the loudest thing in the room – if the vacuum cleaner is on or Daddy’s using the drill you’ll shout over it. You love making your voice echo in bathrooms and other small spaces!
I enjoyed being pregnant with you – well, mostly, if you don’t count the all-day morning sickness in the beginning – but these last 9 months have been so much more fun than those first 9 months. Every day I think maybe you might be the cutest you’ll ever be, but then you do something even cuter the next day. I’m pretty sure you got an extra helping of cuteness when they were handing it out to all the babies-to-be!
Love, Mommy
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