Dear Charlotte,
You've really
turned into a mover and a shaker, quite literally, this past month. You’re growing fast and can’t wait to see
more of your world, literally craning our neck to make sure you don’t miss a
minute of the action. The time is flying
and every time I turn around I feel like you've grown a foot. Your sweet little personality is shining
through more each day and you've started to let us know just how much you enjoy
the world around you.
You love to look
at the world around you and are itchin’ to sit up as fast as you can. Once content to enjoy a rest in your bouncy
chair while we ate dinner, you now demand to be on my knee at the table, in the
thick of the action. You’ll tolerate
your activity mat for a bit longer, but became a huge fan of your exersaucer a
few days ago when it was added to your rotation of toys. You love to sit with us as we read to Anna
and I hope you’ll be as much of a bookworm as she has become. You've also become very grabby this month
and are getting pretty good at bringing teethers to your mouth. You’re obsessed with your hands and I’m
waiting to look over and see an entire fist in your mouth. The other day I tried and tried to keep you
on your tummy, but all you wanted to do was roll to your back and gnaw away at
those fingers. Related to that, you drool
like its part of your job and I’ll be anxious to see when that first tooth
arrives and guess it may be here sooner rather than later.
You’re still a
happy, happy baby and are such a joy to be around. You sleep well, still pretty much 7pm to 7am,
but some days you go down a little later by no choosing of your own; if its
bath night there’s a strong chance you’re nursing to sleep the same time your
megaphone-for-a-mouth-high-on-life sister is taking her bath and that probably
keeps the entire neighborhood alert. I
don’t mind though, it just means I get to stay in the nursery with you and rock
or nurse you until she’s all cleaned up and afterwards you generally fall right
asleep. We’re still swaddling you
because of the aforementioned love of those hands, you get so excited at times
that they tend to wake you up and that’s no fun for anyone. I thought you might find your thumbs by now,
but you’re all about equal opportunity and haven’t singled any one finger out
so far. When you do wake up, you rarely
cry, rather, you work your way out of your swaddle and coo to yourself, and
always smile that big, toothless grin when we approach your crib.
Your sister
loves you SO MUCH. She’s a bit of a
loose cannon at this age and doesn’t always have great control over her body
parts. (A lot of that comes from your
Dad who has little to no depth perception, and I’m sorry if this trait gets
passed to you, but please know this came from the Kelly side of the family) One evening you were laying on the couch and
she was flailing about, trying to pet Milo I’m sure, and she accidentally
kicked you in the head. Both your Dad
and I were right there and I was able to snatch you up immediately to soothe
you. As Anna realized what she’d done and
saw you in tears, she started crying too, you both had enormous crocodile tears
streaming down your face and it was the sweetest and saddest thing I’d ever
seen. Luckily everyone was fine in a
matter of minutes and the incident was a distant memory by dinner. Anna checks on you constantly, tells you
hello and goodbye when leaving the room and loves to keeps tabs on you in the
car.
I’m returning to
work next week and I thought the process would be easier this time around. I was wrong.
It hit home pretty hard this week and I gave myself permission to “mourn”
for one day. That day happened to be a
day Anna was at school and I spent the better part of that day letting you
nurse and nap for as often as you liked on my lap, and when you were awake we
snuggled, talked, played, and I cried. I
know the benefits of care outside the home, I’ve seen it firsthand with your
sister, and I don’t want to leave my job without saying that I gave it an
honest shot; but none of this makes it any easier to look into your eyes and
say goodbye for several hours a day. I
don’t know exactly how we’ll get out the door in the morning with two bags to
pack, two mouths to feed, and two girls to get ready, but what I do know is
that at the end of the day, there will be fierce hugs, cuddling, playtime and
lots of snuggles. Just because I’m not
with you physically doesn't mean that you’re not in my heart every second of
every day. Even when I’m not around, I’m
always in your heart and you’ll always be in mine.
Love,
Mom
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