Dearest Dahlia,
This month has been a continuation of that common theme in your life–growth. So much change! We estimate that you have been growing at about a pound a week. Your hair is getting longer now too. I have to trim your fingernails frequently (that is so much fun, by the way, especially when you flail your hands while I’m doing it). And those are just your physical changes.
Your motor skills seem the most developed. At the beginning of this month, your grip was a lot like that claw drop game: random grabs that hardly seem to fall where you want them to, and even when they do, they never grasp and pull what you intended them to. Now, however, your hands are very effective tools. I can see you thinking about what you want to grab before you make a move. Most of the time you connect with the desired object, and a large percentage of the time you actually get a hold of it too! This is, of course, immediately followed by shoving the object into your mouth. How exciting! Sometimes you just quietly contemplate the world by staring into space and licking whatever is closest to your mouth at the moment: our hands, the Bjorn, toys, or blankets. I was reading a book last night, and you spent about 20 seconds grabbing at the cover of it, trying to get the letters off. That is a long time of focused attention for you.
You are also using your hands to grab at your mouth and gums. This is more often associated with whining, crying and whinging in general. Pair this with the rivers of drool that you now produce daily, and Daddy and I are pretty sure that you are experiencing the beginning of what will most likely be years of mouth pain. Hurrah! As necessary as those little pearly whites are, they can be the source of so much discomfort. Ask anyone who has experienced wisdom teeth, chipped teeth, cavities, braces, retainers, or even just a cold ice cream cone straight on. That pretty much covers anyone currently alive. However, stay strong my little one. At least they only attack your gums from underneath one or two at at time. We can only grimace in pain right along with you, cuddle you close and tell you that it will all be OK. I bought some homeopathic teething tablets, which I have used once or twice with you. You do seem a bit calmer afterwards, so we will keep using the sugar pills, if only for the placebo affect they have on Mommy.
You have perfected a cute little high pitched squeal that we love, although your vocalizations haven’t been as frequent this month. Perhaps you are busy concentrating on moving instead of talking now! You are moving a lot more in general. When we lay you down, you flail your legs and arms a lot. You also do “sit-ups” quite a bit. Although you are learning that bringing toys to your mouth with your hands it a lot easier than bringing your mouth to the toy with your stomach muscles. I joked with you that we should both do a sit-up exercise program every morning. You have been much more faithful at it than I have!
That is probably why you took me by complete surprise last week when you pulled yourself all the way forward and off the couch. I cringe to write to you that I let you fall. I still feel like such a horrible mother because of it. I think that I was more traumatized than you were, though. I definitely cried a lot longer. You were done crying in 2 minutes, cuddled for 2 more minutes, then slept for about 4 hours. Meanwhile, I was fairly hysterical, calling the doctor and my mom to make sure you were OK. They must get calls like that fairly regularly at the doctor’s office. Looking back on it, I realize that this is just the first (OK, maybe not even the first!) of many times that I will fail you as a mother. I know that I will worry about you for the rest of my life, since I love you so dearly, but I am also relieved that your welfare is not trusted to my incompetent hands alone. I know that God cares so much more about you than even Daddy or I do. This is such a relief, because I know that He is watching over you, and that He trusted you to our care in the first place. So I can’t promise that you won’t ever fall and skin your knee, but I can promise that I will always be there to cuddle you and tell you it is alright. And it is alright, as long as we both realize that God is watching over your every move, and that He cared enough to give us each other.
Love,
Mommy