My Dear Alena,
It has now been seven months since you joined our family. You are getting to be more and more fun!
You are growing ever so quickly. It feels like every day, there’s a new development. Here are your milestones from this month:
- You can sit up on your own. We are so thrilled about this, as it means we can let you play by yourself and just keep an eye on you. Dressing you is somewhat easier as well (although you squirm around a lot).
- Your bottom two front teeth have sprouted. We didn’t think it would be possible, but your smile is even cuter now.
- We moved into our new house and you adjusted very well. The first morning you woke up here, you looked around the kitchen and smiled. You seem to really like this place.
- You had your first experience of sitting in our backyard. You enjoyed plucking the grass and trying to eat it.
- You now show interest in touching people’s faces and hair. Even though you don’t always do it gently, I love the feeling of your little hands against my face.
Hello, Grandpa Chan!
- You have learned to scoot backwards while on your tummy. You will sometimes also get into crawling position and rock back and forth (mostly in your crib). Soon, you will discover the joy of being mobile on your own! For now, we are trying to baby-proof the place in preparation for that day.
- When you drop an object (which is like a hundred times a day), you now know how to follow with your eyes to the floor. Sometimes, you’ll make noises at it to try to get it back.
- Your “vocabulary” has expanded to include sounds like “th,” “v,” “f,” “g,” and “k.” You went through a few days of saying “oh,” and these days, your favourite thing to say is “dadadadada.”
Look how much you love applesauce!
- You started eating solid food!! Your first experience with eating off a spoon was with rice and you loved it. You got all excited and happy, making noises and waving your little arms and legs in between spoonfuls. It was adorable. You still love rice a lot. And your most recent discovery is carrots. We found out you don’t like apples at all, or pears much. And you’re not partial to peas.
- You are growing out of some 12 month size clothing already. At your last checkup, you were 17 lbs and 27 inches long.
- You have gotten past your stranger anxiety and will now interact with unfamiliar people (unless it’s at bedtime, in which case, you will cry as soon as you get close to others).
- Your grandparents (Gong Gong and Poh Poh) came to stay with us! The last time they saw you, you weren’t even a month old. This time, they got to play with you for two weeks. And they looked after you, too. You showered them with many smiles, gave them some super poop to clean up and tossed in a couple bedtime crying fits for good measure.
I recently came across this lovely quote: “A Child of Happiness always seems like an old soul living in a new body, and her face is very serious until she smiles, and then the sun lights up the world… Children of Happiness always look not quite the same as other children… They laugh as do all children, and they play as do all children, they talk child talk as do all children, but they are different, they are blessed, they are special, they are sacred” (Anne Cameron, from Daughters of Copper Woman).
You, Alena, are a Child of Happiness. You carry much joy in your being. I pray that you would never lose that joy, no matter what life may throw at you.
With pride and deep affection,
Your mommy
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