Category: Letters to Miss Leyba

Dear Miss Leyba,

You are ten months old and still don’t have any teeth. We can’t believe it either. You now have four in place and just about ready to break through, but we are not holding our breath. We’ve been waiting for them to pop for months.

This month you have been perfecting your skill set: turning pages (now completely on your own), cruising the furniture and moving towards walking by yourself, and TALKING! We thought you talked a lot before… well, now you talk even more!

Your latest talking shenanigan is screaming “mom, mom, mom!” over and over when you want me or when you want me to do something for you. Like when I took away that piece of paper you were eating and you wanted it back. Or when I dare to put the laundry up or unload the dishwasher or, heaven forbid, go to the bathroom without you. “Mom, mom, mom, mom” you shriek and crawl after me clearly shouting, “Wait for me!”

You want to be next to me all the time and are endlessly curious about what I am working on. Honey, I really don’t think I am that interesting… but I am glad you think I am and want to spend all your time with me. I feel the same way about you. Even when you are asleep: I can still stare at you for hours while you sleep. It just doesn’t get old. You are adorable in everything that you do.

Despite wanting to be near me at all times, you still love playing independently. I love this because it means we can both work on projects that interest us.

Unless my project interests you too, in which case you want to help me!

Here you are unpacking the laundry basket:

And coming over to visit me while I am taking photos:

You are also getting very good at yoga and are an expert at the following poses:

• Urdhva Mukha Svanasana (Upward-Facing Dog)
• Adho Mukha Svanasana (Downward-Facing Dog)
• Utthita Hasta Padangusthasana (Extended Hand-To-Big-Toe Pose lying down)
• Virasana (Hero Pose)
• Upavistha Konasana (Wide-Angle Seated Forward Bend)
• Matsyasana (Fish Pose)

We are so proud.

You continue to perfect your pincher grasp and like feeding yourself bits of sweet potato, red potato, rice, spaghetti squash, and banana. You like to teeth/suck on slices of apple and carrot. You frequently share whatever you are eating with us — holding out your spoon or treat to us so we can eat too. We love how generous you are. Thank you for sharing, sweetheart!

You are getting very good at using the mouse and love to type on the keyboard. Here is a message from you:

9 njhb nnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn
p 7 bn bnn nmb,nmk h bv KMNJKHYJGHET
DDDDDDDDDDDDD3 BLOK
M MZNM Zjjjjjjjjjjjjjjj%%%5555 NB BV VZ BVGBFFgggggggggggggggf

Keep growing! Keep exploring! Keep having fun!

We love you.

Love,
Mama

Dear sweetie,

What a month it has been. We’ve had our ups and downs these last few weeks. We’ve met new friends and been very social. On the flip side, the whole family got sick and you had your first cold, which turned into croup. You were very sick, but are feeling so much better now and we’re tremendously relieved. You are now back to your happy, healthy self and we’re exciting to jump into month ten.

You are nine months old. Amazing.

For the most part, we would call this past month a Mama-only month. You wanted me to hold you, to change your diaper, to read to you, to play with you. And no one else would do. You even felt agitated/distressed when I wasn’t in your  field of vision. Subsequently you were by my side for most of the month. You even sleep cuddled up next to me — we both lay on our sides facing each other with our tummies touching. While I may have complained occasionally to Daddy that I never got a moment to myself this month, I’ve actually really loved it. It feels so good to be loved.

When you got sick this changed, however, and suddenly Daddy was the ultimate comforter. I am so glad you feel this way… I do too! Wow, do we both love him.

Looking back, we will talk about the verbal leaps you made when you were eight months old. While I’ve tried to coax you to call me mama, you seem reserved to calling me mom. Sometimes you’ll call my name and then crawl over to me. In distress, when someone else is holding you, you’ll reach out your arms towards me and call for me. My personal favorite is when we’re sitting next to each other, playing, and you put your hand on my arm and look up at me and say, “Mom.” It makes me smile every time.

You also say “hi,” “bye” and occasionally we hear a “no.” (For instance, one time when I tried to transfer you from my arms to your dad’s, you evidently felt very strongly that you wanted to stay with me, so you grasped on to me tighter and shouted “no!”). You frequently greet David at the door when he comes home from work with a “Daddy!” or “hi, Daddy!” In the mornings when you first wake up, you’ll roll over and look at him and say “Daddy!” You love to say “bye bye” (though it sounds more like bah bah), but only when we are using the speakerphone on my cell phone. The last few days we’ve caught you mimicking us and saying “ove you” (Love you!) — oh, dear heart, we love you so!

This month you had another growth spurt and are getting so long! When you’re in your car seat, you can now turn your head to see me driving. I like catching you smiling up at me.

At the beginning of the month you figured out how to wave and clap. Oh, you love to clap! You clap to the beat when we’re listening to music. You clap when you are proud of yourself (for standing, for turning pages, for climbing over things). You are adorable. Clap, clap, clap! The waving is less frequent, but you still do it often.

I looked it up and, at eight months old, you have reached every developmental milestone children typically reach by the time they are one year old… except for walking and, my goodness, you are on your way! You cruise the furniture all over the house. You stand unsupported more frequently. You keep trying to stand up without anything for support. You love “walking” around the house while holding on to our fingers.

You amaze us every day. We love you so.

Love,
Mama

Dear sweetie,

This month you have been on the go, go, go!

You crawl fast everywhere! I may occasionally want you to crawl over by me or follow me around while I do chores around the house; but no, you have your own agenda. You have places to explore and things to do. You are an independent woman and your dad and I love it.

Last month was about learning how to crawl; this month you have been working on climbing and cruising the furniture, and practicing sitting down from standing (which you have nailed, by the way). You love climbing up, over, and down things (yoga bolsters, our futon, people!).

This month you’ve also enjoyed picking up, and eating, teeny tiny things.  I am constantly pulling stuff out of your mouth. Sorry, sweetie! I think we’re all looking forward to the end of the “into-the-mouth” phase.

For your father and I the highlight of the month was your saying “dada” and “daddy” and “mama” and “mommy!” For the most part you only say my name when you really need me (right now!), but you’re slowly starting to say it more frequently (you say dada all the time now!). My heart melts every time.

You give us kisses. They are open mouthed and very wet and absolutely adorable. (You’ve been doing this for a while now but I think I’ve forgotten to mention it earlier.)

We’ve been practicing sign language and you now make signs for “milk” and occasionally “daddy” (especially before you learned how to say it!). I’ve also caught you signing “more.”

You bring your hands together to clap, though you haven’t yet figured out how to make the clapping noise. I bet you’ll figure that out soon. You adore it when we clap for you and make music together.

You love knocking down towers of blocks.

You get such a kick out of this remix of Feist’s 1 2 3 4 on Sesame Street. Dad and I now sing it to you all the time. At home. In the car. Out on walks. Anytime you need a little bit of a pick me up. It makes you smile and giggle. You also kick your feet wildly when we watch the video.

This month we started taking outings every day. Our activity schedule is as follows: mama baby yoga, baby story time at the library, and walks down to the park (sand, swings, and slides, oh my!) where we play with your 11 month old friend whom you idolize.

We also go for walks down to the neighborhood bookstore. You are very social, smiling at everyone, and folks who meet you always remark on how adorable and precocious you are.

You are such a beautiful baby — inside and out!

We love you!

Love,

Mama

Dear Miss Leyba,

Oh my goodness, you are half a year old already! I can’t believe it. In 18 years you’ll be heading off to college. The time is flying by.

Month six has been all about movement. In the last few weeks you’ve morphed from a squishy, soft baby to a very muscular young lady with places to go and things to see. In fact, you converted so much baby fat to muscle in the first half of the month that we started bringing back clothes we had already packed away because they had been too small.

Then you hit your 6 month growth spurt and I’m happy to report that your beautiful, gigantic cheeks are back! (and those 3-6 month t-shirts are packed up again.) Your outfits are still super baggy, but you’re filling them out a bit more every day. Way to go, my voracious eater!

Here’s what you’ve been up to this month:

You can now sit beautifully by yourself. You are also very close to being able to sit up by yourself from lying on your back and you sit up fairly easily when you push up from your side. You like to go from sitting up to the crawling position too.

You are constantly trying to crawl, rocking back and forth on your hands and knees. You scoot yourself backwards around the house on your tummy; so far, you have only ventured around the living room on your own. We know it’s only a matter of time until you’ll be cruising the joint.  We really need to baby proof the house as we didn’t realize just how much baby proofing would be needed until we saw how you reach for everything we touch and will put anything in your mouth.

You love standing up by yourself and only need minimal support from us now so you don’t fall over. You are incredibly proud of yourself for this achievement and give us giant, toothless grins while you’re standing. It’s adorable. You have every right to be proud! What a momentous achievement! Now stop growing up so fast; I can’t take it.

This month you’ve been expanding your vocabulary and love to chat with us. You still are very quiet in public and mainly just talk to daddy and I, but sometimes you surprise us and chat it up with total strangers. For the most part, you are speaking gobbletgoop, but you frequently mimic what we say. You’ve repeated “meow” (once!) and mimic the intonation of things like “hi” after me… we’re still holding out for mama and dada! I listen carefully to everything you say and are ready for you to astonish me with those big words.

We still read together, but now you have less patience for long books, so we mostly stick to “baby books” with just a few words on each page so you can practice turning the pages and, of course, eating the book. Everything goes in your mouth!

You are tremendously fascinated by food and reach for what we’re eating. We haven’t given you any solid foods yet; we’re holding out as long as we can on that. Now that you are six months old we plan to introduce all sorts of yummy vegetables and fruits to you.

You reach for, toss, and drop your toys. Over and over again. I like seeing you make choices and develop preferences. (Of course, I can say this NOW.)

And you enjoy riding in your jogging stroller.

Of course, you enjoy it even more when our runs are over and we hold you, but we really can’t blame you for that.

We’ve been hanging out together for 15 months now. It’s been such fun. Happy Half Birthday, sweetie!

Love, Mama

Baby in the mirror from Carrie on Vimeo.