Letter to my Baby: Week 39

Week 39:  Wednesday, June 22

Dear Ryder,

You have now been an “outie” for as long as you were an “innie”.  Today we took you to your check-up.  The Dr. confirmed what we already knew:  You are a healthy and happy baby.  You are now 28 1/4 inches long (33%) and 18 lbs 7 oz (25%).  Your head is still in the 97 percentile.  I joke that you are my little bobble head baby.  You keep giving us little scares with that big head of yours, first with the fast growth and making sure you didn’t have hydrocephalus, then with the possibility of a cyst.  Fortunately, neither thing is a problem and you just have a big brain in there!

We have been really blessed that you haven’t gotten sick very much.  Unfortunately, you did decide to get sick this month when your Grandpa Thomson came for a visit!  Momma was gone overnight because she had made it a goal to run a half marathon.  Your Daddy was up with you ALL NIGHT because you were so sick and uncomfortable.  Grandpa was very good about helping to hold you and love you until you felt better.  While Grandpa was here we went to the natural history museum and to the butterfly pavilion.  You liked trying to touch all the butterflies and leaves while we held you.

It is so fun watching your personality come out more and more.  You are such a cheerful little guy, mostly smiles and happy noises.  You love to play little games with momma and daddy.  You shake your head no and sometimes yes, and you wave hello and good-bye.  If I sing you the “way up in the sky the little birds fly” you flap your arms like you are a bird.  You giggle when momma plays patty cake or itsy bitsy spider with you.

More and more you engage with us.  You will pull a toy out from your basket or pull something off a shelf and look over at momma to show off what you just did.  You love to shake rattles at us and have us cheer for the good job you are doing.  You love to be where we are, and are better at going with momma from room to room so I can get a few things done.  You find it so interesting to sit on the bathroom floor while I take a bath, in front of the closet mirror while or get ready, or on the kitchen floor while I make dinner.  You are fascinated by the things you can touch, such as our shoes in the bedroom or the kitchen cupboards.  The other day you discovered the cake sprinkles, which made you giggle with delight.    

Your fine motor skills continue to get better and better.  You love little objects like zippers or buttons on shirts.  You are able to reach into your toy basket and grab just the toy you want.  Just recently you have mastered passing objects between your hands and are just starting to figure out that you can hold two things at a time.  You are most fascinated by the things you can’t have, like the car keys, or our cell phones, or the TV remotes and get very angry with us when we won’t let you keep them.

You are not quite ready to crawl, mostly because you still don’t like being put on your tummy!  If we put your on your hands and knees, you scoot backwards, but complain at us the entire time.  You just figured out that you can back up until you are sitting again and if we try to turn you back around you lock your legs into a sitting position.  Then you sit and rock your body and flap your arms as hard as you can, like you are trying to fly, all while giving us a quizzical look that says ‘am I moving yet.’ Sometimes you topple over because you are rocking so hard, or lose your balance because you reached too far for a toy.  You look at us to make sure you are okay, and if we cheer for you, you usually don’t cry.

It has been really fun for us to let you try more and more “people food.”  You really enjoy taking small bites of whatever we are eating.  Momma introduced you to blackberries, which you love, but you look like a blackberry yourself by the time you are done!  You also have enjoyed testing out  avocado, apple, watermelon, pinto beans, and shredded chicken.  You enjoy feeding yourself, although when you get tired you will open your mouth so that I can put food in there for you.  

You reach for both your Daddy and Momma, although you are still much more insistent about Daddy holding you.  We both love watching your face light up when you see us.  We also love listening to your happy baby babbles and coos.  Mostly we just love watching you grow.  Happy 9 months!

Love,

Momma

Letter to my Baby: Week 34

Week 34  Friday, May 20

Dear Ryder,

Another month is gone and you are now 8 months old!  How did this happen so suddenly?  In so many ways it feels like we are just getting used to having a baby in the house, and already you are headed towards toddlerhood.  Just in these last weeks you have started doing so many things you haven’t done before.  Like your daddy says: “It’s like we just get to watch him get smarter everyday.”

You have recently shown a lot of interest in small little parts to things.  You love the patches on Daddy’s shirt, the cord for the blinds, buttons, zippers, and Momma’s earrings and watch.  You love to touch new textures.  You examine by holding, turning the object over or passing between your hands, and then tasting.

You have also become quite adept at reaching for the things you want.  Often times you fling yourself towards the object and momma and daddy have to think fast and hold onto you tight to keep you from flying right out of our arms.  You have no fear if one of us is holding you.  I hope you always feel that way!

You also seem to have finally mastered some level of object permanence.  If I hide a toy under a blanket, you now lift up the blanket to find the toy again.  Unfortunately this also applies to when we try to hide the things we don’t want you to have like the remotes, or the mail, or other things that don’t belong in your little mouth.  You get very put out with us for taking away the things you want.  

You still aren’t crawling, but you really want to move!  You push yourself all the way up with your hands, and then fall backwards.  You can scoot all the way across the carpet doing this, although you haven’t yet realized you can move intentionally to get to something you want.  Mostly you just get frustrated and mad that your body isn’t yet responding the way that you want it to.

You love to go places and get excited when we open the door to take you outside.  We still spend lots of time at parks or the zoo, and you seem to genuinely like new things to see, hear, smell, and (when you are sneaky) taste.  You are a friendly little baby and like when other people stop to say hi.  You love having family come visit, and did really well with your Uncle Corban and Aunt Amanda this last week.  We took you to Disneyland again as well as Universal Studios and shopping.  You do really well in restaurants or other places Momma goes, which I appreciate!

I find that we have settled into a pretty nice routine on most days.  On the days Momma works, we get up and ready and I drop you off.  The days I am home, we usually plan some kind of activity, either before or after your morning nap.  Everyday in the afternoon you sleep for a couple of hours.  Then we have dinner and Daddy comes home.  You love Daddy so much and even if you are happy playing with me will start to fuss until he holds you!  Daddy will play with you for a while, and usually he reads to you.  Silly Daddy likes to make up stories.  He has renamed your board book “Playful Pups: A Touch and Feel Book of Opposites” to “Playful Pups and The Book of Lies.”  He then tries to turn your innocent story about puppies doing opposites into a great adventure full of good and evil.  

Lately when you have noticed a cat in the room you get very excited and start to screech at them.  It makes the cats jump and run away.  I think you are hitting frequencies that we can’t hear, but they can because they sure don’t seem to like the noises you are making!

You love to giggle and laugh.  You think sneezes and hiccups are the funniest things every.  You also like it when we cheer for you and say “ta-da.”  You love words said in funny ways, like “that’s disgusting.”  You also like silly sounds and shushes in your ear.   GIggling at sneezes and hiccups

You are such a delight little one.  I love you with all my heart.

Momma

Letter to my Baby: Week 30

Week 30 Wednesday, April 20

Dear Ryder,

Today you are 7 months old!  I’m not sure when the transition happened but I find myself now counting our age in months instead of weeks.  I also find myself thinking about you getting bigger and becoming a toddler and child.  I am having so much fun with you right now as a baby, but am also starting to look forward to the other new adventures we are going to have together.  

It is really fun watching you develop and have more ability to express your likes and what you want.  This week you have started reaching and stretching for the things you want.  You get mad at Momma and Daddy if we won’t let you have something, even if it is something that you aren’t supposed to have, like our keys or phones.  You love to have daddy hold you up so you can play with the roller string on the window.  You also love when we open the fridge because of all the bottles in the doorway you can try and grab.  Your little hands are moving all the time trying to reach new things and explore the world around you.

You are also very funny about diaper changes.  When we take off your diaper you puff up your little tummy as big as you can and hold it until you have to take a breath.  You also love to ‘help’ by holding the diaper or the Desitin, and get very mad when we need to use those things to finish changing you.  

Yesterday, Momma was on the floor with you doing some yoga for exercise.  Even though you were sitting right next to me and could even reach out and touch me, you weren’t happy.  You complained until I stopped what I was doing and held you on my lap.  I love that you want to be so close to me, but it is a little exasperating sometimes!    

You are getting very mobile, although you still aren’t able to go where you want to yet.  Mostly you just flop, and wriggle and roll.  You haven’t yet figured out how to get up on your hands and knees, but I figure it will be coming pretty soon.

This week you cut your very first tooth!  It is on the bottom front, left side.  It is fun to see the white tooth coming up through your little gums.  Because of that you have been very drooly and your nose is a bit runny.  You are chewing on everything you can get your hands on.  I think your second tooth won’t be far behind, but hopefully we will get a break after that.

I love having this time with you sweet boy!

Momma

Letter to my Baby: Week 27-29

Weeks 27-29 Monday, April 11, 2011

Dear Ryder,

We have had a busy couple of weeks.  Momma finished work on Friday, March 25th.  Unfortunately, Momma caught some kind of nasty flu bug before leaving and was sick for the last weekend we had to play with Granni!  The other funny thing that happened is that momma lost her voice.  I had to whisper at you, which you thought was a really funny game and would make silent talking sounds right back at me.

We are so grateful that Granni came to stay with you and I know she loved being with you.  We were sad to drop her off at the airport and promised that we would visit again really soon.  

Because Momma was sick, Daddy had to take you to get your head ultrasound.  He told me how you hated it!  You cried and cried while they rubbed the wand around on your head.  Daddy hated to have to watch you cry and scream.  Sometimes it is hard to do things that you don’t like, even when we know that it is best for you.  Happily, the doctor called us later that day and said that everything looked okay.

On Wednesday, March 30 two of daddy’s brothers and their families came to visit.  You got to meet your Uncle Jordan and Aunt Erin, and your two cousins Beckham and Ava for the very first time.  You also got to see your Uncle Zach, Aunt Alyse, and cousin Ezra again.  You had so much fun watching your cousins play and having so much attention from family who loves you.  You also got to go to some new places.  You had your first trip to Disneyland and Universal Studios.  You loved the fireworks at Disneyland and enjoyed watching all the people at both theme parks.  You also tried the beach for the first time.  You weren’t as impressed by the beach, probably because the sun was so bright.  It will be fun to take you back to these places when you are a little older and can appreciate them more.

You are talking more and more.  Just in these last couple of weeks you have started making Ma Ma and Ba Ba sounds.  Your daddy and I have decided it would be fun to teach you some sign language and are starting with “mom”, “dad”, “milk”, “more” and “all done.”  You love to communicate so it will be fun to see how quickly you start using words.  

You have always gotten upset when mommy or daddy have to walk away from you for a minute, but now you all out cry if we leave the room.  It makes momma feel so bad, but sometimes I just have to get some things done!  I always try to talk to you and come back very fast though.  You have also started reaching your arms out when you see us to ask to be picked up and held.  It is so endearing for both your Daddy and I.

One of your new skills is the ability to transfer an object back and forth between your hands.  It’s fascinating to watch your little hands move and the look of concentration on your face when you are working on making an object go where you want.  Sometimes you drop the toy and screech in protest because it is then out of your reach.  

You have always enjoyed food, and we have started to give you “mum-mums” to keep you occupied while momma and daddy have dinner.  You love to try feeding yourself.  We also tried puffs, and while you did really well with picking them up, you couldn’t figure out how to get them out of your fist and into your mouth!  

Ever since you were little you have liked taking showers.  The other day I tried to give you a bath in the sink instead.  You really didn’t like it very much so I guess we will stick with showering for a bit longer!  

We love hearing your baby giggles.  Your whole face lights up and you are starting to recognize games.  Your favorites are: where’s the baby, yes/no, and tickle bug.  You pant when you are excited and make a little noise that your daddy and I call “zombie laughs” when you want something or are pleased with yourself. 

It’s so fun to be your Momma.  I love you little man!