Slow down!

Dear Joy,

I realize I called you an easy baby in your last letter, and for that I apologize. Clearly, you are not. True, there are some things about your personality that are easy-going, and you are easy for me to deal with in some ways, but I know you need and want a lot of attention. It's not easy. I have learned my lesson.

I love that you sleep 8 or more hours in a row before waking up most nights. Then after I feed you 4-6 ounces of milk, you fall back asleep for up to 2 more hours, give or take, before deciding you're ready to get up for the day. Really, I don't want that to change. I do admittedly wish you'd take naps longer than 30 minutes at a time (at least they're not just 20 minutes like they used to be!), but I will take what I can get!

I can't believe just how quickly you're growing up! You're not even 7 months old yet, and you are doing things I'm not ready for you to do! I was content that you weren't rolling over. Then I was content that you were only rolling over from your back to your stomach (except that you'd start crying when you got onto your stomach because you HATED being on your stomach, and I'd have to flip you back onto your back, only for you to roll back onto your stomach seconds later). Then I remember cheering with your daddy when you rolled from your stomach to your back for the first time. That seems like it wasn't that long ago. Even more recently, you started army crawling and I was floored you were able to do that before hitting 6 months. I DEFINITELY was not (and still am not) ready for that! Shortly afterward came sitting on your own. It was like you weren't able to for even a second to all of a sudden being able to do it for a decent length of time before falling over overnight!

So I have kept my eyes on you more closely. You entertain me army-crawling from the family room to the kitchen to the entry way before coming back or before I go pick you up and carry you back. I smile, amused, as you follow the cats' movements with your eyes and try to catch them by crawling to them, only to have them move away out of your grasp. And then you're army-crawling after them, and it's so cute to watch. You don't get as frustrated at their leaving you in the dust nearly as quickly or frequently as I'd think you would.

And as I have been watching you, I've seen you start getting up on your hands and knees. There has been some rocking back and forth, but what has most impressed me is that you seem to realize that you can go from that position to sitting, and you're teaching yourself to do that. It seems like you will have that completely figured out any day. Recently, you have also moved an arm and leg forward a step or two while on all fours before going back to army-crawling, which is amazing and frightening! As if army-crawling wasn't bad enough, you want to start crawling on all fours!

Just today, I had surgery and left you in the care of my Aunt Fay, who you will know as Mimi. She reported to your daddy when he picked you up that you WERE crawling on all fours, and not just a little bit! We were amazed. We set you down on the floor to see for ourselves, and, sure enough, you did it! Holy cow!

There's also some of that "I-can't-believe-she's-doing-this" feeling as I watch you grasp at something to try to pull yourself up to standing. I haven't seen you quite make it from the floor to standing by pulling yourself up yet, and seeing you fall as you attempt to do so and then cry because you're hurt, frustrated, or a little of both saddens me. However, I know you have enjoyed standing with assistance ever since you were quite young. Your daddy and I have been amazed at how strong your little legs seem to be. We've never pushed you to stand, but you do so happily and frequently, and often fight sitting when that's what we would like you to do because you want to stand instead. So it shouldn't have come as a surprise to hear that you pulled yourself up to standing while at Mimi's house today too!

I'm so not ready for how quickly you're growing up! Please slow down!

Love,
Mommy