J
Jenn
Guest
Month eleven newsletter
Dear Caitie,
This was a busy month for us, especially in terms of milestones. It seemed as though every time I turned around, you were doing something new!
First, you mastered the art of crawling. You follow me everywhere now, and when you’re bored of me, you scamper off to play with your toys or get into trouble. I love to hear you coming after me, your little hands slapping against the floor and your sweet voice calling for me – “Mum, mum, mum, mum†or sometimes “Da, da, da, da.†You’re always so pleased with yourself when you find me and it makes me so happy to see that even with all the choices of places to go and things to do, you still choose to be with your mama.
Grandma and Papa came to visit this month, too, and in just two days Grandma had taught you how to pull yourself up on furniture. The day she left you figured out how to do it all by yourself! Now you love doing it and you even take a few small steps along the couch.
You’ve mastered the sippy cup this month and you’re a pro at the bottle. You continue to be a terrific eater and you are very good at feeding yourself – at least until you get bored and throw your food on the ground! You eat a lot of what we eat now, though you usually eat more balanced meals than we do because I pre-make and freeze a lot of your food for convenience. You eat four meals a day, plus one or two snacks, plus bottles. It often feels like you do nothing but eat! You were weaned this month and you don’t miss nursing at all.
This month you also learned how to shake your head “no†and it’s super cute. You don’t do it when you’re refusing something, you just do it to be cute or because you want to see us do it, too. You think mama’s ponytail swinging around is pretty funny.
You got your seventh and eighth tooth in on January 30. They didn’t seem to bother you nearly as much as the first six teeth did. We think you’re working on some molars now – you became cranky for no reason towards the end of this month, and you started fighting your naps, cutting down on your hours of sleep at night and sometimes waking up an hour or so after you go down for the night.
Your vocabulary has expanded exponentially this month. Grandma says you’re “pre-talking†because you make so many different sounds and try very hard to copy us! You said your first real word this month – daddy. You love your daddy and when he comes home, you chatter. “Who is that?†I ask. You repeat “Whosa?†and then go into “Daddy, diddy, deedee, dadada.†“Mum†wasn’t too far behind. You also like to yell gibberish at the television during sports games, just like mama and daddy.
You are imitating noises, now, too. When I say, “What does a puppy say? Woof, woof!†you say “Oof oof!†You will also pant like a puppy, hiss like Mr. Squaggles and growl/squawk in imitation of us doing it. You like to sing “la la la†and you often chatter yourself to sleep. When you wake up, you also usually chatter to yourself or have conversations with the small stuffed Elmo or the big soft Nemo you sleep with.
There are some things now that we don’t have to show you how to do, you just hear the word and do it, like clap, “do dis†for shaking your head, kisses and hugs and “come here.†You’re so smart!
It was a month of putting things away, too. Gone are the crib mobile and aquarium, the Jolly Jumper and the Exersaucer. Now that you’re mobile, you don’t want to be restrained when you could be exploring the world around you. And now that you’re exploring, I am sweeping and vacuuming a lot more often! You have a bad habit of putting everything in your mouth, and who knows what disgusting things are on the floor!
When I clean, you like to come along behind me and mess things up. When I put all your shapes inside their sorting containers, you take a great deal of pleasure in scattering them to the far corners of the room. When I put the plastic doughnuts on their stand, you take them off and throw them. Sometimes I am very surprised to find things in places where they shouldn’t be!
Your favorite characters are still Elmo and Nemo, but your favorite toys are things that make noise. You also love things that you’re not supposed to play with – remote controls, telephones, buttons on the stereo and PlayStation controllers. We let you play with them anyway, because we’re bad parents like that. This month you also learned how to bang on pots with a wooden spoon and when I let you play with measuring cups, you pretend they are real cups and pretend-drink out of them. You like to share your pretend-liquid with daddy, too. It makes you happy to share your real food, too – but not the cheese. You love cheese.
Books are your most favorite thing, I think, and that makes me very happy. We read at least one book a day together, and you have books that you play with. Your focus is amazing as you turn the pages and look at the pictures and words. You love to sit quietly and listen and look when I read to you.
You love to crawl, but you also love to hold onto our hands and bounce up and down. I think it’s because when you were a tiny baby, I used to bounce you gently to make you burp. It was the best way to get all of the air out of your tummy. Now you’re obsessed with it.
You love being scared. Tossed in the air or flipped around or just having someone sneeze or blow their nose makes you laugh! So does kissing either side of your jaw and tickling your belly or legs. We love to hear you laugh, we’ll do almost anything to get a giggle out of you.
I don’t know if it is because you’re mobile or what, but this month was so much fun. I love that you don’t need me to lug you around everywhere, and you love having the independence of being able to go where you want, when you want. You were napping and sleeping extremely well (see above for recent crankiness) and you’re just happy and a pleasure to spend time with. You’re getting better and better at telling me what you want and need and I’m getting better and paying attention to your most subtle cues. We’re a team, you and I.
I hope that’s what the mother/daughter relationship is all about – communication and teamwork and most of all, love. I guess we’ll see as you get older, but really, I can’t imagine you as being anything but wonderful. I know someday we’ll go through rough patches when you start to exercise more independence in your teens, and I know I’ll resist letting you go inch by inch, but I know that in the end, we’ll still be a team. No matter what happens, darling, it’s you and mama against the world – because mama loves you more than anything in the world.
Together, we can do anything. You’ll see.
Love,
Mama.
Dear Caitie,
This was a busy month for us, especially in terms of milestones. It seemed as though every time I turned around, you were doing something new!
First, you mastered the art of crawling. You follow me everywhere now, and when you’re bored of me, you scamper off to play with your toys or get into trouble. I love to hear you coming after me, your little hands slapping against the floor and your sweet voice calling for me – “Mum, mum, mum, mum†or sometimes “Da, da, da, da.†You’re always so pleased with yourself when you find me and it makes me so happy to see that even with all the choices of places to go and things to do, you still choose to be with your mama.
Grandma and Papa came to visit this month, too, and in just two days Grandma had taught you how to pull yourself up on furniture. The day she left you figured out how to do it all by yourself! Now you love doing it and you even take a few small steps along the couch.
You’ve mastered the sippy cup this month and you’re a pro at the bottle. You continue to be a terrific eater and you are very good at feeding yourself – at least until you get bored and throw your food on the ground! You eat a lot of what we eat now, though you usually eat more balanced meals than we do because I pre-make and freeze a lot of your food for convenience. You eat four meals a day, plus one or two snacks, plus bottles. It often feels like you do nothing but eat! You were weaned this month and you don’t miss nursing at all.
This month you also learned how to shake your head “no†and it’s super cute. You don’t do it when you’re refusing something, you just do it to be cute or because you want to see us do it, too. You think mama’s ponytail swinging around is pretty funny.
You got your seventh and eighth tooth in on January 30. They didn’t seem to bother you nearly as much as the first six teeth did. We think you’re working on some molars now – you became cranky for no reason towards the end of this month, and you started fighting your naps, cutting down on your hours of sleep at night and sometimes waking up an hour or so after you go down for the night.
Your vocabulary has expanded exponentially this month. Grandma says you’re “pre-talking†because you make so many different sounds and try very hard to copy us! You said your first real word this month – daddy. You love your daddy and when he comes home, you chatter. “Who is that?†I ask. You repeat “Whosa?†and then go into “Daddy, diddy, deedee, dadada.†“Mum†wasn’t too far behind. You also like to yell gibberish at the television during sports games, just like mama and daddy.
You are imitating noises, now, too. When I say, “What does a puppy say? Woof, woof!†you say “Oof oof!†You will also pant like a puppy, hiss like Mr. Squaggles and growl/squawk in imitation of us doing it. You like to sing “la la la†and you often chatter yourself to sleep. When you wake up, you also usually chatter to yourself or have conversations with the small stuffed Elmo or the big soft Nemo you sleep with.
There are some things now that we don’t have to show you how to do, you just hear the word and do it, like clap, “do dis†for shaking your head, kisses and hugs and “come here.†You’re so smart!
It was a month of putting things away, too. Gone are the crib mobile and aquarium, the Jolly Jumper and the Exersaucer. Now that you’re mobile, you don’t want to be restrained when you could be exploring the world around you. And now that you’re exploring, I am sweeping and vacuuming a lot more often! You have a bad habit of putting everything in your mouth, and who knows what disgusting things are on the floor!
When I clean, you like to come along behind me and mess things up. When I put all your shapes inside their sorting containers, you take a great deal of pleasure in scattering them to the far corners of the room. When I put the plastic doughnuts on their stand, you take them off and throw them. Sometimes I am very surprised to find things in places where they shouldn’t be!
Your favorite characters are still Elmo and Nemo, but your favorite toys are things that make noise. You also love things that you’re not supposed to play with – remote controls, telephones, buttons on the stereo and PlayStation controllers. We let you play with them anyway, because we’re bad parents like that. This month you also learned how to bang on pots with a wooden spoon and when I let you play with measuring cups, you pretend they are real cups and pretend-drink out of them. You like to share your pretend-liquid with daddy, too. It makes you happy to share your real food, too – but not the cheese. You love cheese.
Books are your most favorite thing, I think, and that makes me very happy. We read at least one book a day together, and you have books that you play with. Your focus is amazing as you turn the pages and look at the pictures and words. You love to sit quietly and listen and look when I read to you.
You love to crawl, but you also love to hold onto our hands and bounce up and down. I think it’s because when you were a tiny baby, I used to bounce you gently to make you burp. It was the best way to get all of the air out of your tummy. Now you’re obsessed with it.
You love being scared. Tossed in the air or flipped around or just having someone sneeze or blow their nose makes you laugh! So does kissing either side of your jaw and tickling your belly or legs. We love to hear you laugh, we’ll do almost anything to get a giggle out of you.
I don’t know if it is because you’re mobile or what, but this month was so much fun. I love that you don’t need me to lug you around everywhere, and you love having the independence of being able to go where you want, when you want. You were napping and sleeping extremely well (see above for recent crankiness) and you’re just happy and a pleasure to spend time with. You’re getting better and better at telling me what you want and need and I’m getting better and paying attention to your most subtle cues. We’re a team, you and I.
I hope that’s what the mother/daughter relationship is all about – communication and teamwork and most of all, love. I guess we’ll see as you get older, but really, I can’t imagine you as being anything but wonderful. I know someday we’ll go through rough patches when you start to exercise more independence in your teens, and I know I’ll resist letting you go inch by inch, but I know that in the end, we’ll still be a team. No matter what happens, darling, it’s you and mama against the world – because mama loves you more than anything in the world.
Together, we can do anything. You’ll see.
Love,
Mama.
.. im sure thats something she will treasure..later in like. what a great gift.
