To Stella, seven months old
Dear Stella,
We went to the doctor this morning and found out that you are now 2'3 and 16 1/2 pounds. That puts you in the 75% for height and 50% for weight. I forget your head circumference but I think it was 40%. I guess you have a little head like your dad. Clearly head size does not correspond to motor skill ability because you are off the charts in that area but we'll get to that in a moment.
When you were just shy of 6 months, your dad came into the bedroom one morning when it was time to wake me and proudly proclaimed that you had pulled yourself up to standing when you were playing at your little piano. Just a couple weeks later, you started regularly pulling up then whenever you would wake up in your crib, we would find you standing holding on to the edge calling us, waiting for someone to come get you. This is perhaps the most adorable sight in the world. You are so proud of yourself.
Pretty much the only thing you want to do these days is practice standing. If we put you on the ground you just immediately start crawling to whatever object or person is nearby that will help you foist yourself up. Dr. Kligler told us that you are seriously advanced in the motor skills department and we are very proud. We sometimes think about all the jobs you could excel at given your aptitude for standing. Orchestra conductor, waitress, toll booth attendant, I'm certain you have a very bright future ahead what with your stupendous standability.
A good friend of mine from high school told me recently that she really loved when her kids would sit by themselves and play before they became mobile. I can only imagine what that would be like since you are still not really a sitter. When we try to get you to practice this important skill, you lock your knees and make it rather impossible. Every once in awhile we manage to maneuver you to sitting but it ends up being nothing more than a quick stop on the way to the roll-to-stomach-crawl-stand move for which the judges consistently give you a 10.
There are a couple things that we can do that invariably bring a smile to your face. You love to play pattycake which consists of me playing pattycake to your stationary hands. You also love to hear Daddy sing the alphabet. Most anything that involves people paying attention to you makes you happy. Every so often -- and it is pretty often these days -- you just burst into laughter. Your giggles would surely stop the crisis in the mid-east. If only they could hear you.
This month you started eating solid food. So far you have had avocado (this was your first ever food...you were very perplexed by it the first time but we gave you some yesterday and you absolutely loved it), sweet potato, rice cereal, banana, and apple. You are happiest when we let you feed yourself even though that means that most of the food ends up on the floor, the highchair, your bib and shirt, your hands, generally a scrap or two up on your forehead, pretty much anywhere other than your mouth. But a little manages to get in there too. We know this because of how it comes out the other end. But never mind about that. We're more than happy to change your dirty diapers. Although I must tell you that you have begun to make this quite difficult. You simply refuse to lie still on the changing table. Remember how you used to put your feet in the air for us and then calmly wait as we changed you? No more. Now you wiggle around and use your spidey senses to climb up the wall. I often just put you in the crib and change you standing up now. It seems useless to try to wrestle the bionic baby to the ground.
Each month that goes by I think, "oh now this is really getting fun. I just thought it was fun before but this is the real deal." It may just be that way for the rest of our lives. But no matter what I may come to think retrospectively in two months or two or twenty years, this month being your mom was really really fun!
I love you.
Love,
Mom
We went to the doctor this morning and found out that you are now 2'3 and 16 1/2 pounds. That puts you in the 75% for height and 50% for weight. I forget your head circumference but I think it was 40%. I guess you have a little head like your dad. Clearly head size does not correspond to motor skill ability because you are off the charts in that area but we'll get to that in a moment.
When you were just shy of 6 months, your dad came into the bedroom one morning when it was time to wake me and proudly proclaimed that you had pulled yourself up to standing when you were playing at your little piano. Just a couple weeks later, you started regularly pulling up then whenever you would wake up in your crib, we would find you standing holding on to the edge calling us, waiting for someone to come get you. This is perhaps the most adorable sight in the world. You are so proud of yourself.
Pretty much the only thing you want to do these days is practice standing. If we put you on the ground you just immediately start crawling to whatever object or person is nearby that will help you foist yourself up. Dr. Kligler told us that you are seriously advanced in the motor skills department and we are very proud. We sometimes think about all the jobs you could excel at given your aptitude for standing. Orchestra conductor, waitress, toll booth attendant, I'm certain you have a very bright future ahead what with your stupendous standability.
A good friend of mine from high school told me recently that she really loved when her kids would sit by themselves and play before they became mobile. I can only imagine what that would be like since you are still not really a sitter. When we try to get you to practice this important skill, you lock your knees and make it rather impossible. Every once in awhile we manage to maneuver you to sitting but it ends up being nothing more than a quick stop on the way to the roll-to-stomach-crawl-stand move for which the judges consistently give you a 10.
There are a couple things that we can do that invariably bring a smile to your face. You love to play pattycake which consists of me playing pattycake to your stationary hands. You also love to hear Daddy sing the alphabet. Most anything that involves people paying attention to you makes you happy. Every so often -- and it is pretty often these days -- you just burst into laughter. Your giggles would surely stop the crisis in the mid-east. If only they could hear you.
This month you started eating solid food. So far you have had avocado (this was your first ever food...you were very perplexed by it the first time but we gave you some yesterday and you absolutely loved it), sweet potato, rice cereal, banana, and apple. You are happiest when we let you feed yourself even though that means that most of the food ends up on the floor, the highchair, your bib and shirt, your hands, generally a scrap or two up on your forehead, pretty much anywhere other than your mouth. But a little manages to get in there too. We know this because of how it comes out the other end. But never mind about that. We're more than happy to change your dirty diapers. Although I must tell you that you have begun to make this quite difficult. You simply refuse to lie still on the changing table. Remember how you used to put your feet in the air for us and then calmly wait as we changed you? No more. Now you wiggle around and use your spidey senses to climb up the wall. I often just put you in the crib and change you standing up now. It seems useless to try to wrestle the bionic baby to the ground.
Each month that goes by I think, "oh now this is really getting fun. I just thought it was fun before but this is the real deal." It may just be that way for the rest of our lives. But no matter what I may come to think retrospectively in two months or two or twenty years, this month being your mom was really really fun!
I love you.
Love,
Mom
posted by Carolyn, David & Stella at 3/27/2006 03:53:00 PM
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