*thanks to Dooce.com for this idea*
Dear Maya,
Another month has come and gone, and, unlike the first two months when your brother was born, the time has flown by. This month you’ve awakened even more, reaching for the bright toys we put in front of you, smiling at your daddy’s funny faces, and cooing when we talk to you.
This month you met some very important people in your life — grandma and grandpa.
You don’t know it yet, but they are big suckers. They will buy you toys and cute clothes and pretty much everything unnecessary you could ever imagine. Also, as soon as you are old enough to talk, they are going to try to convince you to do what your mother can’t or won’t do — move back to Idaho. You just wait and see. The indocrination will begin soon.
I’m glad I’m writing these letters to you because, looking back, I can’t remember much of Ben when he was your age. I am glad for all the pictures I took of him and for my blog entries during that time, because it reminds me of all the various stages he went through.
I know I will feel the same when you are bigger. You are growing so fast! This month you reached 13 pounds, adding half of your birthweight on in just 4 weeks.
You have beautiful blue-green eyes, and everyone keeps asking me if they will stay. I don’t know but I hope I remember just how they look, with deep blue-grey rims fading to a clear sea green near the iris. Your hair, too, is growing in. So many people liked to pat your soft head that the hair fell out there sooner than the rest, making you look like you had male pattern baldness for a while. We laughed about it, knowing it wouldn’t last, and now you have soft, dark hair growing all over your sweet little head.
We can already tell that you’re a very determined person. Today I laid you on your tummy in the center of the bed to play in your play gym while I answered the call of nature. I laid you on your Boppy pillow and made sure you were as far from the edges as possible. I heard you fussing whilst I was in the bathroom, so I kept calling out to you that I would be there to pick you up soon, but clearly my high-fiber diet wasn’t working and so it was a few minutes before I could get to you. In those few minutes you had launched yourself over the pillow and inched your way across the entire bed until you were at the corner of the bed closest to the sound of my voice. I was shocked and surprised; a few more minutes and you would have inched yourself right off the bed. I did not expect a 2-month-old baby to be so strong and so determined; it was like climbing a mountain to reach the mama voice. Clearly you wanted me, and you wanted me now. This kind of will and determination scares me a tiny bit, but it also makes me glad. It is obvious to all (the doctor included) that you are nothing less than one heck of a strong baby and a real fighter.
Click on Picture to See Video
This month you started doing something else — showing your feelings. Now, when you are frightened by a noise or your tummy obviously hurts from gas, you don’t just cry — you cry and throw your tiny arms around my neck and hold on tight. I don’t remember Ben doing this, although I’m sure he did at some point, so it amazes me. You also clearly have a preference for the smell and feel of mama; when I am next to you, you sleep better and fuss less. One thing I do remember when Ben was your size is that he clearly preferred Marti, and I worried a little that he would never want mama (oh, how wrong was I!) so it’s very sweet to me that you prefer mama this time. Probably you will forget this and adore daddy later, the way Ben forgot and became close to me, because that’s usually how these things work. For the present, however, I am basking in your baby-love.
I have to go back to work in a few weeks. I am trying not to think about it. All I want to do is lie around and adore your lengthening dark lashes; I want to worship your tiny toes, stroke your soft, chubby legs, do silly things to make you smile at me.
I never want to leave you, even for a moment; your daddy and I sometimes fight over who gets to hold you.
You are the sweetest, smartest, most beautiful baby ever made in this world, and I believe that with my whole heart.
Love,
Mama
