Friday, May 9, 2008

Dear Miss Maddie,

Wow - you are seven months old today. Seven months! We're past the halfway mark to a year and we've both survived (barely) - yay!

It seems as you get older, you start learning things at such a faster pace, I'm not even sure where to begin...

You sit up by yourself without any help now - only fall backwards and bonk your head every once in a while ... that still breaks my heart when you do it - but falling has made you learn to start putting out your hands to steady yourself, so I guess that's the silver lining.

With sitting by yourself comes playing by yourself. If I pile a tonne of toys around you, you're happy as a clam to sit and play for a half hour. Although you prefer it if I'm sitting with you. But you'll be satisfied with a quick 'check in' from me every 5 mins or so - which lets Mommy get more stuff done around the house - yay housework! (*sarcasm*)

Just this past weekend, while we were visiting with family in Kingston you learned to stand up (holding onto the couch), crawl backwards (kind of a shimmy that takes you further and further away from what you're trying to reach, which is frustrating, I know), and you had this squeal/laugh/shout thing you did every time you saw the dog - so I guess you've learned to try and beckon animals too!

One of the coolest things you started doing this month is all your babbling. You talk to yourself, to me, to Daddy, to the kitties, to your toys, to the tv ... pretty much to anyone and anything. It started out with the ayayayayya that I first heard while we were in the grocery store. Then you added a bububububabababba to the mix. Now your new favourite word is "da-da". You say it. All. The. Time. Seriously kid, couldn't you throw in a "ma-ma" every once in a while?

We aren't calling it your official word yet though, because I think you need to be looking at Daddy and saying the word specifically at him before we call it your 'first word'. And that gives you more time to figure out 'ma-ma'... :)

Along with the babbling, you also sing now too. I'm sure a lot of our readers are rolling their eyes right now, but I don't care. I know you're trying to sing. You say "aaaaaahhhhhhh" and raise and lower your voice while doing it. You 'sing' mainly to your toys (like I sing to you), and sometimes to yourself while in the carseat right before you fall asleep. I haven't gotten it on film yet, but I need to make sure I do because it ranks right up there with one of the cutest things of all time.

I wish I could say you have poked your first tooth through, but we're still waiting on that one monkey. Still. Waiting. I know it's hard. I'm tired of giving you Motrin at night and ensuring you always have a cool teether available. And I'm pretty sure you're tired of being in pain. I know I would be.

I also wish that I could say you were sleeping through the night regularly - but that's still seems to be a way off for us. You like at least one feeding during the night, and sometimes it seems like you just wake up so you can hang out with me for a bit. While I'm flattered, it's a bit tiring...

We both love the little girl you are turning into Madeleine. You are always just taking it all in. Lots of people think you're so 'serious' all the time - but I can see that you're just trying to figure it all out. And we get lots of smiles and giggles at home - which is what I try to explain to the strangers in the mall, and give up because I don't really care if they believe me or not. You don't smile or giggle on cue, you wait until something strikes you as funny. You already have your own mind and I love it.

You prefer Daddy to give you your bath. You prefer Mommy to chase away the tears in the middle of the night. You like when Daddy reads you a book. You like when Mommy dances with you in your jumper. Daddy likes to walk you. Mommy likes to rock you. It's so cool to see how you like certain things about each of us and how (I think) you're already figuring out that Daddy is the softie.

We have a fun month ahead of us monkey. The weather is getting nicer, so we can go outside lots. And we're going to Ireland in a month - you are going to be a world traveler at less than a year old! I can't wait to show you how beautiful that country is, and for you to meet Mommy's friends. Please just be nice to me on the plane ride over...

Love you monkey - lots and lots and lots and lots.

Love Mommy
xxoo

No comments: