Letter to My Son

Dear Son,

It’s been a little while since Mommy wrote a letter to you.  It appears we have something in common, sinus congestion.  You get that from me, sorry.  We have battled the sneezes, coughs, running noses for a while now as Mother Nature battles with winter and spring.  Yesterday we were in shorts and today we are in jackets again.

Mommy has plenty of pictures to post, but first let’s share what happened yesterday.  You were standing up, holding on to the side of the exer-saucer.  Mommy was singing to you and you gave such sweet smiles that Mommy had to grab her “camera” (i.e. iPhone) and snap pictures. 

Mommy started doing the animal sounds, which you love. “And the lion goes ROAR.. and the puppy goes Ruff Ruff.. And the… Oh Crap!”  Well, that was out of the blue different, but you surprised Mommy!  There’s a nice space between the exer-saucer and the sofa, where Mommy was sitting.  You let go of the exer-saucer, took a STEP on your own, not holding on to anything and walked to the sofa!

Daddy came into the room at the end of the walk.  He yelled, “DID YOU GET IT ON VIDEO!”  Umm, no, because I really was not expecting you to walk.  But I did manage to get this blurry action shot! 

Totally made my day.  We tried to get you to repeat walking on your own, but you refused.  You would stand and then crawl to where you wanted to go and then stand up against another piece of furniture.  That’s Ok.  Mommy knows you can do it.  This is at your own pace.  You are testing waters and we love witnessing it.

Now that the excitement is out of the way, Mommy needs to do an update on your one-year old doctor appointment.  Your length was 31, which is still above average.  Head measurement was 18 and weight was 22 pounds 5 ounces which is in the average range.  You don’t have a tummy/belly that a lot of kids have.   Daddy is worried that you aren’t gaining enough weight.  But the doctor didn’t seem worried.  You had four shots.  Mommy cried too.  (Is it any wonder that children grow up to have “white coat syndrome” when talking with doctors?!)

After your shots, we went to Caffe du Monde for coffee and beignets.  This was "feel good food" for Mommy and Daddy after seeing you cry from the shots.  Umm, sorry, we didn't see the sign until after taking the picture!

Even though you aren’t over weight, you are into real food now.  But it takes you a while to swallow.  You will chew and chew and chew and sometimes you store the food in your cheeks or the top of your mouth and if you let the food get too much in storage then you yell.  Mommy has to fish the food out with her finger and pray that you don’t bite her in the process.  Now, if the food is soft, you have no problems swallowing, but it’s mostly meat that causes you an issue.  The thing is, you WANT the food, but you wince when you swallow meats.

When you are finished with the food and there’s still food left on the tray, it’s play time.  Food on the floor, food in your hair.  Sometimes you put the food in your lap or along the side of your legs in the high chair.  The funny thing is.. you remember the food is on the side and when we take you out of the high chair, you reach around to grab the food.

You transitioned very smoothly from baby formula to whole milk.  Daddy buys organic milk, so you don’t get extra growth hormones, etc from the regular whole milk.  We are trying to get you to go from bottle to sippy cup, but you aren’t liking it much at all.  The cup becomes a toy to toss around.

The world is your toy.  Opening and closing doors makes you smile, especially when Mommy says, “open… close…”  And you are definitely an outdoors baby.  You smile when Daddy takes you outside and yell when he brings you back inside.  Now that the weather is nicer, we are going on strolls.  You love it.  Unlike car rides, in the stroller, you won’t fall asleep.  Your eyes are wide open, soaking in the world.

A few weeks ago, we took you to see horses.  Daddy was holding you up high to see the horse in the stable.  Your eyes got saucer wide and your hands dug into Daddy.  Daddy said, “It was as if Gregory was saying, “Do you see that!  It’s the biggest dog EVER!”  The horse’s face was as big as Gregory’s body.”

In the past few weeks you have had many visitors and I have lots of pictures to share with relatives.  That will be in the coming posts.  But for now, Daddy will say this is already too long of a letter :)

Love Always,

Mommy