try to ignore the weird

Dear Rachel,

My sweet daughter, we have reached the first milestone. I have almost no adjectives for how awesome you are! Silly, adorable…they don’t seem to describe. So intuitive and smart. You wave “hi” and “bye bye.” You walk now. 6 or 7 steps, I count it. You love food, but what else is new?

I kiss your neck and you laugh and laugh. I make faces you recognize. You shake your head “no” at me and then do it anyway. I don’t know what else I could have possibly been expecting – you are your mother’s daughter, after all. A rebel.

I hope you are. I hope you always question authority. I hope you challenge yourself. May you develop your own opinions of the world. May you fight for what you believe in. May you fight for the ones you love. Be an artist. Be an academic. Be a warrior. Be a feminist. Be. You. Argue with the people you don’t agree with. Defend the ones you do.  Be outspoken.  Be (a little) obnoxious. And definitely be weird; normal is boring…

And know that Daddy and I are on your side no matter what.

I have no idea who you are yet. But I hope that I instill the proper values, that I give you some sort of moral compass. You inspire me every day to be a better person. I didn’t know why I was here, until I knew what I would die for. It was all you… every day of my life.

Love,
Mommy

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Dear Rachel,

You are truly the sweetest. You are the light of our lives and pure joy. That sounds horribly cliche, but it’s so true. I can’t imagine a sweeter baby.

Your laugh is contagious. I always tell you, “Nobody else laughs like you, Rachel.” You have sort of a crazy laugh, a hilarious heheehHEHEHAHAHAHAA. Genuine crazy person Broadway musical laugh. I just realized that it’s the Joey stalker laugh.

Just kidding, love.

You are standing! You can stand on your own for up to 10 seconds and then slooowly lower yourself back down. You’ll walk if we’re holding both of your hands, and a couple of times you have taken a tentative step toward me if I outstretch my hands, but then you tumble into my arms. You will definitely be full-on walking soon, and then we are totally in trouble!!

In Mommy’s office after the Halloween party.

You were a dragon – the cutest one!  My t-shirt said Mother of Dragons.  I am sorry I am so nerdy.

You partied too hard.

You are always happy. So rarely fussy – only when you are tired. Otherwise you are smiley and giggly, and oh so curious! You are interested in everything and never miss a detail.

You mimic our sounds (we can always get a “mama” and “dada” now, as well as something approximating “nonono”). You also make a deep grunting/growling noise, like you are exasperated. It’s hilarious. You do understand the word “no” and usually mind us if we say it and shake our heads. But you think it’s funny to be bad – I say, “Rachel….are you being a baaaad girrrrl?” and you crack up!

AND THE CLAPPING. I love it. We taught you how to clap a couple of weeks ago, and now all we have to say is, “yayyyyyyy!” and you start smiling and clapping. SO adorable. That’s a great one.

I can’t believe how fast time has gone. You are truly turning into an adorable little girl, and so smart and kind.

Never change from your silly and sweet self, my doll!

Love,
Mommy

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Dear Rachel,

It gets harder and harder to write these updates. You have turned into an almost-toddler in the blink of an eye, it seems.  You’re 10 months now…

Just like it gets harder and harder to leave you every morning to go to work. I wake up before you and shower and by the time I’ve warmed up your bottle and poured myself some coffee, your’e stirring. I always ask the boys (the dogs of course) if they “want to go get Rachel.” They run downstairs and wait at your door. By this time you’ve heard us coming and are standing in your crib with a huge toothy grin – you’re such a morning baby!

You at nighttime:

Speaking of teeth, you have 6 now. 4 up top and 2 on the bottom! And you do use them. You’ve broken the skin biting me. I just assume it’s how you kiss right now

You LOVE the dogs. Every time they play around you, you crack up. That’s another thing – you are a very giggly little girl. Luckily your daddy and I are super silly so we get to hear your sweet laugh quite often.

You crawl everywhere, all over the house. We put a baby gate at the top of the stairs, of course. But you crawl from the living room through the kitchen, down the hallway, all the way to our room and then back again.

AND you pull yourself up to standing and your balance is getting really good! You can hold on with just one hand and I’ve noticed you’re much steadier – we’ll have a walker soon!

You have lots of activities! Story time at the library, Gymboree, and music class – music is your favorite. You went to Maya’s first birthday at a music class and had a blast! We noticed how much you liked the maracas and got you some. The first few days you would cry when we took them away and would get frustrated when you couldn’t stand up with them in your hands! Hilarious.

SUCH a happy girl. I love you!

Love,
Mommy

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Dear Rachel,

Your mother is perpetually late. Especially these days. No matter how early I try to leave, I always am a few minutes behind. Usually. So it should come as no shock that these letters are always. late.

But really, I remind myself that I need to write them and I resist. It’s hard for me to admit that you are nine months old. Maybe I was in a sleep-deprived stupor for the first few months, but I swear those passed like days.

And now you are 9 months old.  This is you in a Frozen coma – the only way we can get you to sit still – but you have no interest in paying attention to the camera when Frozen is on!

Of course I remember what you at 9 months has been like though. You full-on crawl, on hands and knees. You pull yourself to a standing position and even walk along the furniture; once you tried to go from the coffee table to the couch and were short – fell on your face. You cried for all of five seconds – you’re SUCH a tough girl. Everyone says so. The dogs knock you down, you slip and hit your chin, you bump your head. But you take it all in stride. I’m amazed at you.

You can say dada and mama (though you don’t know what that means), but mostly you just babble. It’s hilarious because you have a toy phone and you know exactly what it’s for. You put it to your ear and start talking away. Daddy and I come up with your dialogue – you always sound so busy and important! “What the h, Frank? I told you to have those memos on my desk by this morning!” You’re gonna rock this crazy life thing, I can tell.

You’re starting to really and truly engage. You laugh when we tickle you and play peekaboo. You LOVE “I’m a Little Teapot,” “The Noble Duke of York,” “If You’re Happy and You Know It,” and of course any song from the Frozen soundtrack. You, watching Frozen? You’re in heaven. It’s so adorable.

You have FOUR teeth now (two bottom, two top). At the doctor’s office this month you weighed 21 pounds, 4 ounces and were 29.5 inches long – 85% for weight and 90% for height. And the doctor diagnosed it herself – you’re a hot mess.

I miss you every day while I’m at work. But you are a very happy and healthy baby and that’s all I can ask for. I love you!

Love,
Mommy

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