January 3, 2008

Dear Jack, Month 7

Dear Stinky Face,

I usually begin my letters to you by telling you how big you are and how fast you're growing. Then I plead with you to slow down a little. I think you've finally started to listen! You gained less than 3 pounds in two months! My fear that you would be the only 4000 pound nine-year-old in your fourth grade class have subsided.

There are so many new things you're doing and I'm sure I'll forget to mention something. I forgot to mention your jumping in your 5-month letter . . . oh how you love to jump! The minute your feet hit any surface, you're bouncing up and down. Let me tell you when this new little phase is least fun: When I'm nursing you and your feet touch the arm of the chair. Needless to say, I don't nurse you in armchairs much anymore.


You have teeth now. Sharp teeth. Two of them. The teething process was HORRIBLE and I thought you were going to be mad at me forever! We could see the little buggers under the surface of your gums for weeks and it seemed liked they would NEVER pop through. The day that they did was glorious! You were so happy and you slept for more than an hour! It was like Christmas came a little early! I cringe a little when I think we'll have to do this several more times. I'm kind of hoping they'll all come in at once and we'll just have two or three awful weeks and it will be over! Did I mention that your new teeth are very, very sharp?

Your first Christmas was fairly anticlimactic. You were sleepy and cranky because we kept you awake through nap times and made you travel so much. Several people we talked to were appalled that we didn't get you any Christmas gifts . . . so I explained to them that you're 6 1/2 months old and you don't know what Christmas gifts are. Don't worry . . . both sets of your grandparents, great grandparents, aunts and uncles more than made up for it. I guess we did get you a bowling set, a toothbrush and a few books, but honestly . . . we would have bought those for you even if it wasn't Christmas. When you think about it that way, the last 7 months have been nothing but Christmas gifts for you!

You're now a crawling maniac. I credit your Grandpa Wietholter and Murphy for teaching you how to do this. Grandpa got down on the floor with you and showed you how to move your hands and knees and Murphy has been the primary target after which you chase. You can't get enough of that dog and nothing amuses us more than to see her try and hide from you. You are curious about everything and we have to watch you constantly to make sure you're not reaching for anything dangerous. Oh, how I miss the exersaucer days!


Jack, now that you're becoming more mobile your dad and I are learning a whole new set of parenting lessons. I'm feeling a little bit at a loss for words to tell you how I feel about this. We're learning to maintain the delicate balance between protecting you and allowing you the freedom to try new things. I'm your mom and I want to keep you from ever being hurt. At the same time, the level of confidence and determination you have amazes me and I don't want to suppress that! Sometimes, the new things you try result in bumps, bruises and scrapes and I feel awful when you fall. But I also know that if we never let you fall, you'll never learn to get back up.


So, I promise to let you try new things Jack even if it means you might fall down (though my guess is that your dad may have to hold me back sometimes). Just know that we're always here to teach you how to get back up.

love,
mama

P.S. Our favorite book to read together this month is, "I Love You Stinky Face."

2 comments:

Phil said...

the pictures are AWESOME! I'm particularly fond of the 'chasing murphy' picture!

Anonymous said...

Oh my gosh he is the cutest baby EVER!! I found this post on "More from BlogHer", and those photos are just scrumptious. Especially that last one. So cute!