My lovely lovely daughter,
Yes, I know. I’m late. Again. I think that you will be learning at a very early age that your mom pretty much always runs late. I surprise people occasionally with being punctual, but for the most part, I’m tardy. It just is. But enough about your mother’s flaws. That’s not what this letter is about. It’s about YOU and just how remarkable you are.
So a few days before you turned five months old, I forgot to mention in your last letter that you learned how to splash. You wave your chubby little right arm up and down and splash and then you grin the hugest grin ever. It thrills you. Since then, you’ve mastered the art of banging any and everything that you can get into that hand against anything else that’s near. Your favorite? Your plastic keys against the plastic of your keysuit. Optimal noise. You love it.
The major news of the month was that just a few days before you turned six months old you started crawling. That’s right. Full on, hands and knees, moving forward crawling. You could not be more excited about how much more world is open to you now. You are so smart, kiddo. It’s pretty awesome watching you pick up these new moves. You pretty much sit up on your own. You just can’t quite manage to get that second bum cheek all the way on the ground so I’m not sure if it counts, but, well, as far as I’m concerned you’re sitting.
We also finally caved and snipped your hair a bit this past month. That one long bit in the front was getting a bit ridiculous, reaching all the way to your nose. The hair on the rest of your head is filling in nicely and while you still have your mohawk, it isn’t quite as prominent as it used to be. We love playing with your hair – especially in the tub when we can lather it all up with shampoo and make it stand straight up. Great fun for us as your parents. You’ll hate us for the pictures later, but it’s alright. You’ll forgive us eventually.
On top of the many great things that happened, you also got sick this time around. It was a nasty one, too. Nope, our little Anastasia couldn’t come down with a mere cold for her first illness. No, no. It had to be a nasty little virus that had you vomiting and spewing rancid poo. Oh yeah. That’s right. It was lovely. Thank goddess that’s over. By day seven or eight of that your mom had had just about enough of that, thankyouverymuch.
I love taking you out places. Everybody is so amazed at how alert you are. How well behaved you are. You truly are a remarkably good baby. You have never made a big scene in a restaurant, you don’t shy away from strangers (which maybe later might not be such a good thing, but for now it’s great), you smile at everybody. You’re just stunning. On top of all of that, you’re also the cutest darn baby that I’ve ever seen. Your expressions and sounds are so adult sometimes that I forget that you’re a mere infant. Then you fall asleep on me and I remember.
I love to hold you when you sleep. I love stroking your back and smoothing your hair. I love to kiss your forehead and cup your bare baby feet. I can’t even believe that you’re mine. I can’t fathom that I could be so lucky as to have been given you for my child. Don’t you ever forget how much I love you. I love you so much more than even life. You are my everything, baby girl.
Kissing you softly again tonight,
Mama
