Grace's First Week at School

Contrary to her own expectations, Grace had a wonderful first week at school!

She likes wearing her uniform, which was something she thought she would dislike.  On Thursday when we picked her up she told us she and another girl were going to dress to "match" the next day.  (They have two different skirts, two different colored shirts and can wear either navy or white socks, so even though it's a uniform there are a few different "looks.")  Richard looked at me and said, "It starts."  =]

Although she's mentioned she misses being at home with me and the little kids all day, she isn't lonely at school and she said she doesn't really miss us while she's at school.  She has of course made friends with everybody in her class and half of the younger girls as well!

She did have one negative experience with being singled out as "the new girl."  Apparently the boys in her class regularly pull the girls' ponytails.  But because Grace is new, they have refrained from pulling her ponytail and Grace felt a little left out.  I assured her that the boys would quickly get used to her being there and would pull her ponytail just as much as the other girls'.

She likes most of her subjects, including Math which was not a favorite at home.  She doesn't like Grammar or Physical Conditioning, but loves Spanish and Literature.

I do miss having her at home, but am enjoying a new season with my three little ones - being able to focus more on them and just hanging out and playing.  Moses loves "doing school" (we're doing a very relaxed preschool) and I'm connecting with Judah much more than last year when Grace was homeschooling.  I feel like I'm actually getting down on their level and really doing stuff with them instead of just trying to keep them occupied while I do school with Grace.  And that was really a big part of why we decided to send Grace to school.

Grace also seems to be benefitting from the schedule and routine of being in a classroom setting.  Although it's hard for me to hand over her education to someone else and not be learning side-by-side together with her, I feel like this is the best arrangement for this season in out lives.  Before too long I will be homeschooling 3 kids all at once and will again be enjoying the thrill of watching my children learn.

Breastfeeding and Return to Fertility

Ever since Moses was born I've been fascinated with the connection between breastfeeding and fertility.  Everyone from your Ob-Gyn to the authors of parenting magazines and email newsletters warn you not to use breastfeeding for birth control!  And I'm sure we've all heard someone share about how they got pregnant while breastfeeding - or maybe that's you!  So I think it's common to believe that breastfeeding has no affect on fertility, when in reality that's not entirely true.

I am reading a great book called, "Breastfeeding and Natural Child Spacing" by Sheila Kippley.  It's incredibly informative and interesting, especially if like me you're not keen on using chemical/hormonal means of preventing pregnancy or spacing babies.  It turns out that many women who conceive while breastfeeding or who experience a very early return of fertility (before 6 months) are practicing "Cultural breastfeeding", while the best way to postpone return of fertility is through "Ecological Breastfeeding".   Ecological breastfeeding is more than just feeding your child from your breasts; it's a whole method of infant and mother care that involves all aspects of how the mother and child relate.  (Here's a summary of the principles of ecological breastfeeding.)  The seven basic standards are:

1. Breastfeed exclusively for the first six months of life; don’t use other liquids and solids, not even water.
2. Pacify or comfort your baby at your breasts.
3. Don’t use bottles and don’t use pacifiers.
4. Sleep with your baby for night feedings.
5. Sleep with your baby for a daily-nap feeding.
6. Nurse frequently day and night, and avoid schedules.
7. Avoid any practice that restricts nursing or separates you from your baby. 

Copyright © 1972, 1999, 2008 by Sheila Kippley, author of The Seven Standards of Ecological Breastfeeding; Breastfeeding and Natural Child Spacing; and Breastfeeding and Catholic Motherhood and co-author of Natural Family Planning: The Complete Approach. Permission is given to copy this sheet provided it is reproduced in full. www.NFPandmore.org

In my own experience, I have followed all these principles except #5.  (I did/do many days lay down to nurse the baby to sleep for a nap, but unfortunately I usually then get up instead of napping myself. =[ )  With Moses I abruptly and drastically cut out a couple daytime nursings when he started solids at 5 months and my cycle returned at 6 months.  I conceived again when Moses was 10 months old, and continued to nurse him.  Judah was not interested in solids until around 7-8 months and my cycle retuned at 8 months.  I was tandem nursing Moses and Judah, and I got pregnant again when Judah was 10 months old.  Moses weaned just before his 3rd birthday, while I was nursing Judah & pregnant with Clementine.  Clementine is now going on 11 months old and has been eating table food for about 2 1/2 months.  I'm tandem nursing Judah and Clementine and have yet to experience a return in fertility.

Anyway, it's safe to say that not only is each woman very different as to what kind of practices will suppress her fertility, but each woman can be different with each successive child!  There's no way to 100% guarantee a certain number of infertile months, but at the very least you can increase your chances of greater space between children by following the Seven Standards.

If you're interested, there is a very cool article over at one of my favorite blogs, Keeper of the Home about this subject.  She did a poll of her readers about breastfeeding and fertility and analyzed the resulting information.  A lot of food for thought!  She comes to the conclusion that probably most North American women do not practice Ecological Breastfeeding, but also that perhaps there are other factors like nutrition, exercise/obesity, and environmental toxins that affect our early returns to fertility.  Definitely worth checking out!

One thing her results did show is that the women who breastfed for more than a year were more likely to experience delayed fertility - one more plug for extended breastfeeding!  =]

I'd love to hear your experiences with breastfeeding and fertility!

A Big Change in the Mailly Home

Big changes are coming our way!  And no, we're not expecting another baby!!  We are sending one of our children off to school.  No, not AWAY like to boarding school, but to a classroom school setting.  After 6 years of homeschooling Grace, she will be attending a small, private school for 6th grade!

I am a die-hard homeschooler.  I really, really think that homeschooling has many, many benefits over a classroom setting.  Like the writer of this article over at Passionate Homemaking, I love homeschooling because it lets Richard and I be the primary influence in our children's lives; it cultivates strong family relationships; it encourages a love of learning in our home.  With homeschooling, we are assured that our children's education is focused and centered around Christ.  We are able to fine-tune their schooling to fit their strengths and weaknesses.  Our kids are taught by a teacher who knows them best, loves them most, in an environment that is most familiar and safe to them.  An added element with Grace is that she visits her biological dad every other weekend and has influences there that go against much of what we believe.  She also is 7, almost 9 and 10 years apart from her younger siblings.  These factors make us that much more purposeful about strengthening her family ties and being the strongest influence in her life.

However, I do also understand that homeschooling doesn't work for every family, and it doesn't work for every child.  There are seasons!  So although in the back of my mind I had always thought we would always homeschool, we have come to a season in which a classroom setting seems best for our oldest daughter.

There are several reasons we felt lead to putting Grace in school, things that can't be helped - like the large age gap and needs of an older child and much younger children - and things that are unfortunate realities - like my lack of discipline and structure, and Grace's difficulty in independent study.  Although we still have desires for Grace to learn at home with me as her teacher and her siblings as her classmates, we believe she will benefit more from the structure of a classroom setting.  However, this school has many, many of the aspects we love about homeschooling tied up in it.  In fact, I think it might be considered the best of both worlds, or at least the closest thing you can get to homeschooling in a classroom setting!

RiverTree School is a Charlotte Mason school.  It is small, Christ-centered, filled with good books and nature walks and music and teachers who lead students on a journey of discovering great ideas.  Although there is part of me that is sad not to be the primary one going on that journey with Grace this year, I am very excited about this school and I believe whole-heartedly in their philosophies and approach to learning!  I think this will be a great year.

The Meaning Behind "Held"

A song that has special meaning for me is "Held" by Natalie Grant.  It was released a couple of months before Matthias died and my sweet cousin sent me a copy of the song.  I heard it on the radio quite a bit in the months following and listened to it at home often... it has since become "Matthias' song" in my mind and I can never hear it without remembering vividly those early days and months after his death.

I decided today to research the story behind the song and found a great post on the website of Christina Wells, who wrote the song.

She actually wrote the song about three different women who had experienced great loss in their lives.  One was a young widow, one a friend who lost an infant son and the last one was her mother-in-law who had a stillborn daughter.

One woman she talks about is Vaneetha whose infant son had been treated at birth for a heart defect.

Paul was doing remarkably well and had just been celebrated at a church-wide baby shower, when he died unexpectedly in the night.  The first verse of “Held” refers to Vaneetha and her son, Paul.  She has always spoken to me about how knowing sorrow has allowed her to also know joy…and about the strange reality of feeling God’s presence most keenly in the moments of deepest grief.

I can so relate to that strange paradox of knowing God's love and His nearness best in a time of greatest pain.
Then she relates how her mother-in-law Sherry shared the story of her stillborn daughter:

She spoke through tears about the pain of carrying a child to term and then having to let her go without even getting to take her home from the hospital.  She told me about the still, small voice that spoke to her in the delivery room, saying: You have to choose how you will carry this loss after this moment.  You can choose bitterness.  Or you can choose to let me wrap you up in peace that can’t be explained and that will lead to hope.  You can choose to trust that you are not alone, and that everything you suffer here will someday be redeemed.

This conversation with Sherry eventually helped write the third verse.

I have appreciated the depth and power of these lyrics since the first time I heard the song, and I can tell this songwriter has an deep, true understanding of grief, suffering and redemption.

Other words from these women became the second verse, taught me that no person of faith since the beginning of time has ever lived without suffering.  In fact, they said, those who are students of Jesus have been promised that we certainly should expect pain and suffering in this life.

BUT.

But.  In the middle of that heartache.  At every lonely, dark, lost moment…the Truth.

That in those moments, even then, especially then… we are held, held up, held together, by the the One who has walked here and knows the pain, and who also holds all of time, every story, my story, your story, the Greatest Story in his hands.

Remember the Shining Tears and Be Sure

Have you read "The Magician's Nephew" by C.S. Lewis? Chronologically it's the first of the Narnia series, in which Narnia is created by Aslan and Digory Kirk (who is the Professor Kirk of "The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe") has an adventure in that magical land. Digory's mother is dying at home in London, and Digory has hopes that Aslan will cure her. But first Digory has to go on a long quest to help protect Narnia from an evil that he himself brought into brand-new Narnia through his own foolishness and pride. As Aslan is sternly instructing Digory concerning this quest, Digory knows it's right for him to have to go on the quest, right for Aslan to be fierce and stern, and right that Digory's own desires should be put on hold until he remedies the wrong he has done.  But Digory's heart is still breaking for his mother.  Here's how the scene is described in the book:

"I asked, are you ready?" said the Lion. "Yes," said Digory. He had for a second some wild idea of saying "I'll try to help you if you'll promise to help my Mother," but he realized in time that the Lion was not at all the sort of person one could make bargains with. But when he had said "Yes," he thought of his Mother, and he thought of the great hopes he had had, and how they were all dying away, and a lump came in his throat and tears in his eyes and he blurted out: "But please, please-won't you-can't you give me something that will cure my Mother?"

Up till then he had been looking at the Lion's great feet and the huge claws on them; now, in his despair, he looked up at its face. What he saw surprised him as much as anything in his whole life. For the tawny face was bent down near his own and (wonder of wonders) great shining tears stood in the Lion's eyes. They were such big, bright tears compared with Digory's own that for a moment he felt as if the Lion must really be sorrier about his Mother than he was himself.    

"My son, my son,’ said Aslan. ‘I know. Grief is great. Only you and I in this land know that yet. Let us be good to one another."

For a time after Matthias' death I was like Digory staring at the Lion's massive paws and terrible claws.  I understood God's sovereign right to give a baby and then take him away again.  I knew God's power and His inscrutable ways were not mine to question and His purposes not mine to understand.  As I was thrashing around in my agony and burdened down by grief, I was unable to look into His face.  But then one day I did.

One day I cried out from a heart full of pain,

"You took him!  You took him from me!"

And there was anger and accusation there.  In those words I was telling God, "You don't love me.  You just do your holy, mysterious thing without regard to how it affects us puny humans.  Do you know what you did to me when you took my baby?  Do you even care about my tears?"

And in that despair I finally looked up into His face, and I also was surprised more than anything in my whole life.  For I too saw the tears in His eyes and in a moment I knew that there was a sense in which He was sorrier about the death of my little baby than I was myself.  Is it not a wonder!?

He knew.  He understood how great grief is.  He was sorry for me, for my loss, for every tear I shed.  He was grieved for me.  His heart broke for the weight of sadness I carried.

Yes, He has great claws.  Yes, He took Matthias.  It is true that I do not understand His purposes or His ways.  He can give and take life in the blink of an eye, and yet He is saddened by the death of a little baby.  And yet He saw each tear I cried in the dark of the night and they mattered.

Do you remember when Jesus' friend Lazarus died?  Jesus delayed in coming to him when Lazarus was sick, so that Lazarus would die.  Jesus also knew that He was going to raise Lazarus from the dead that very day, in order to display the power of God.  And yet when he reached Lazarus' tomb and saw the great grief of Lazarus' sisters Mary and Martha, he wept.  Why did he weep?  Jesus was in control of Lazarus' death! In a sense Jesus wanted Lazarus to die!  And not only that, but He knew Lazarus would be alive again to be reunited with his sisters in a matter of moments.  But He loved Mary and Martha.  Their tears mattered to Him.  Their great grief broke His heart and He wept for their pain.

That was the day when I looked into His face and saw His tears for me.  I went to Richard, almost afraid to ask, and said,

"Is God sad that Matthias died?"

Such a theologically ambiguous question that my rational, precise husband could have answered with a long and technical answer.  But he didn't.  He said, "Yes, He's sad."

Sometimes I still struggle in my grief.  Sometimes I wonder again if the 36-hour life of a little baby boy matters to the God of the universe.  Sometimes I again cry out, "Why did you take him?"  Sometimes I'm not sure if I am loved and held.  But then, like Digory, I remember the shining tears and I am sure.

He [Digory] was very sad and he wasn’t even sure all the time that he had done the right thing; but whenever he remembered the shining tears in Aslan’s eyes he became sure.

Circle Time

For the last couple of weeks I've been implementing "Circle Time" with the kids.  This happens in the morning after Clementine goes down for her morning nap, around 9am.  We sit on the floor in a circle (hence the name) and have a time together reading the Bible, singing, and praying.  Here's roughly what it looks like:

• Mama reads Psalm 100 out of the Bible
• Kids and Mama practice memorizing Psalm 100, with plenty of actions and going very slowly 
• Mama reads out of The Big Picture Story Bible
• We talk about what we read for maybe 2-3 minutes
• We sing a hymn, encouraging the two younger ones to memorize the chorus
• Mama and whoever else wants to prays

That's it!  Short, sweet, doable for busy moms with young kids.  And I have seen so much fruit from it!  My kids are now asking to do Circle Time if I forget, and are reciting Scripture and singing hymns... it's beautiful!  And the best part is it's SIMPLE and SUSTAINABLE.  I'm not setting myself up with grand ideas about doing some sort of inductive Bible study with my preschoolers and then giving it up after two days because it's too much.  This is really, really simple and easy and short.  But I can do it pretty much every day!  I love it, and so do my kids, and for the first time I feel like I'm really consistently feeding my kids spiritually.

I do require them to SIT and to be still, to listen attentively, etc.  But the time is short enough that that's not too much of a problem for a 2.5 year old and a 4 year old.  If Clementine is awake then it's really rough so during her a.m. nap is best.

I got this idea from Preschoolers and Peace, by the way.

Here's some evidence of the fruit I've been seeing - Moses singing our current hymn, "Nothing But the Blood":

Remembering Matthias 5 Years Later

This is a card I sent out this year to commemorate Matthias' 5th birthday and to thank many people who walked with us through that time. God has blessed us so much with people willing to enter into this grief and walk that path with us. Thank you! And thank you to those who have read Matthias' story and remembered him with us each year. We are blessed to hear his name spoken and have our dear son remembered and loved.

Ecological Breastfeeding Summary

The Seven Standards Summary
ECOLOGICAL BREASTFEEDING AND NATURAL CHILD SPACING PROGRAM


Basic Principles

1. Frequent and unrestricted nursing is the primary factor in producing natural lactation amenorrhea and infertility. (Lactation amenorrhea is the absence of menstruation due to breastfeeding.)
2. Ecological breastfeeding (EBF) according to the Seven Standards almost always provides this frequent nursing and natural infertility. It is that type of baby care which follows the natural mother-baby relationship. It avoids the use of artifacts and mother substitutes; it follows the baby-initiated patterns. EBF is the norm and offers many built-in benefits, one of which is extended natural infertility. A lengthy postpartum amenorrhea is the norm.
3. The following Seven Standards help to ensure the frequent nursing.

The Seven Standards: Phase 1 of Ecological Breastfeeding

This phase almost invariably produces natural infertility as long as the program is complete.

1. Breastfeed exclusively for the first six months of life; don’t use other liquids and solids, not even water.
2. Pacify or comfort your baby at your breasts.
3. Don’t use bottles and don’t use pacifiers.
4. Sleep with your baby for night feedings.
5. Sleep with your baby for a daily-nap feeding.
6. Nurse frequently day and night, and avoid schedules.
7. Avoid any practice that restricts nursing or separates you from your baby.

Phase 1 is the time of exclusive breastfeeding and thus usually lasts six to eight months.

The Six Standards: Phase 2 of Ecological Breastfeeding

• Phase 2 of EBF begins when your baby starts taking solids or liquids other than breast milk. 
• You begin to give liquids when your baby shows an interest in the cup, usually after six months.
• Aside from Standard #1, the other Six Standards of Phase 1 will remain operative until the baby gradually loses interest in breastfeeding. Phase 2 is a situation in which the frequency and amount of nursing is 1) not decreased at all at first, and 2) lessened only gradually at baby’s pace. Phase 2 is frequently longer than Phase 1 with regard to natural infertility if EBF continues with frequent and unrestricted nursing.

Return of Fertility

        The First 6 Months. The first 8 weeks postpartum for the exclusively breastfeeding mother are so infertile that in 1988 scientists agreed that any vaginal bleeding during the first 56 days postpartum can be ignored for determining amenorrhea or fertility for the exclusively breastfeeding mother. This rule applies to the EBF mother.
       During the first 3 months postpartum, the chance of pregnancy occurring is practically nil if the EBF mother remains in amenorrhea. Because of the above paragraph, this means the mother has no menstrual bleeding after the 56th postpartum day.
       During the next 3 months postpartum, there is only a 1% chance of pregnancy if the EBF mother continues to remain in amenorrhea.
       After 6 months. For the nursing mother there is about a 6% chance of pregnancy occurring prior to the first menstruation. This assumes no fertility awareness and unrestricted intercourse. This risk can be reduced to close to 1% through the techniques of systematic natural family planning—observing the signs of fertility and abstaining accordingly.


Natural Spacing by Breastfeeding Alone

About 70% of EBF mothers experience their first menstruation between 9 and 20 months postpartum. The average return of menstruation for EBF mothers in the North American culture is between 14 and 15 months. For those couples who desire 18 to 30 months between the births of their children, ecological breastfeeding will usually be sufficient.




Copyright © 1972, 1999, 2008 by Sheila Kippley, author of The Seven Standards of Ecological Breastfeeding; Breastfeeding and Natural Child Spacing; and Breastfeeding and Catholic Motherhood and co-author of Natural Family Planning: The Complete Approach. Permission is given to copy this sheet provided it is reproduced in full. 

www.NFPandmore.org

Journal Entry for Judah

6/29/10

Dear Judah,

You are 2 and a quarter right now and you are... difficult.

I know, it's hard. It's hard to be the middle child and to be 2 and to know so much but be so limited in what you can or are allowed to do. But I love you dearly even though you are difficult right now and I know we can make it through this time together!

Your dynamics with your brother Moses the 4-year-old are difficult. You are close enough in age that sometimes it is really fun to play together. But when you and Moses and Sissy play together you are the little one and that can be hard. Do you feel like you have to stick up for yourself or you'll be taken advantage of? Is that why you hit and bite and pinch so much? Does Moses try too much to get you to do things his way? Is that why you say "NO!" so much? I know, it's hard.
You beat up Moses a lot. I think you have an advantage over him in that you are very tough and stoic, and Moses is very emotional and FEELS everything so DEEPLY. But you have to stop hurting him. Please come get Mama if you are mad at Moses.

Judah, underneath your stoic little exterior I know you feel things very deeply too. You observe so much. You understand more than your limited speech abilities would have us believe. You KNOW that you know how to do things. I am trying to have lots of patience for you, so you can try to do things by yourself, even if I think you can't do it. You always let Mama do it for you if I give you a chance to try it first. But if I preempt you and don't let you try and tell you you can't... well, there's a huge eruption with a lot of screaming and crying and falling to the ground in distress. I understand. It's hard. I will give you a chance to try for yourself.

I really love the goofy, silly side of you, Judah. You like to make us laugh. Sometimes you use comedy to cover your distress, but don't we all do that sometimes? If we tell you, okay, that's enough silliness now, you will try to keep the laughs going and we will get firm and you will cry. It's hard to know when to stop sometimes.
You are a little parrot and you mimic anything your comedian brother does. One day when we were walking home from the park, I was pushing you and Moses in the stroller. About a block from our house Moses asked me to stop, then he jumped out, handed me his sunglasses and asked me to hold them, then said, "This is going to be great!" and took off running for home. You watched for a second then jumped out of the stroller, took off your sunglasses and asked me to hold them, then told me, "Dis gonna be gweat!" and took off running after Moses. This is the perfect example of what you do all the time. You admire and imitate Moses while also being very independent and aggressive with him at times. It's hard to be two and have all those conflicting emotions and roles happening. I know.

You can be very demanding, whiney and aggressive sometimes, Judah. We are working on asking nicely and waiting. You are learning "please". You are learning to wait for what you want and I am learning not to overlook you or disregard your requests. Just because you're an independent and capable little person doesn't mean you don't need attention! And many times it seems your demanding and forceful way of communicating comes from a fear that between the needs of the older kids and the demands of the baby, you will be overlooked. I am glad we are still nursing and have special times together each day. It keeps us connected. And I am sure that we can get through this hard time together, you and I, Judah.
I love you so much, you are a sweet boy, full of observations and insights, ready to have fun and join in the activities of your family. You add so much joy to our lives and I am glad you are my boy!

Journal Entry for Clementine

6/29/10

Dear Clementine,

You just turned 8 months old and you are very, very fun.

It is summer out and you love to sit on the back deck and watch your brothers and sister run around the yard, yelling and playing. Are you wishing you could run too? By next summer you'll be joining them! You fell off the side one time and now you crawl to the edge but you haven't fallen off again. I do think you are a genius.

Each night I have to pull a dozen tiny slivers out of your very round, obese, squishy knees and thighs and the fat pads on the tops of your feet. Neither one of us likes this bedtime routine. I think you'll have to start wearing pants and shoes outside!

You have completely mastered crawling and "scaling". (I just read this term in a baby development book. It means pulling up on things, like my legs and the couch and anything else you can reach.) Better yet is that you can sit back down again without falling over backwards. You're even pretty nonchalant about only hanging on with a couple fingers of one hand. I'm guessing it won't be long before you let go completely and are standing on your own! Despite being about the chunkiest baby I've ever seen, you really get where you want to go with ease.

I love what a happy baby you are. So often you are content with watching your sibs or playing on the floor while our busy lives go on around you. You eat Cheerios in your highchair while I cook dinner, or you pull out the pots and pans, or you toss all the folded laundry out of the basket and onto the floor. You just seem happy to be a part of this family.

Of course, there are times when you aren't content to just do your own thing and you want - need - to be held, mostly by Mama. You come crawling after me as I whisk around the house doing things, wailing to be picked up, totally desolate until you're in my arms. This is when I'm most thankful for all my baby carriers. I just pop you in and you're quiet as a mouse, content to view the world from the vantage-point of Mama's hip.

You and I are almost inseparable. We go everywhere together. We went out for coffee and DQ the other night with Aunty Trish. We go shopping together lots (but not all the time - if you're napping I leave you home.) We are attached at the hip, pretty much. It was like that with your brothers too, but look how they're always off doing their own thing now. Is that going to happen with you too?? Promise me you'll never leave me, Clementine! Oh alright, fine, you may grow up.

Have I mentioned how chunky you are? You are super, incredibly, lusciously, edibly, obese. I love it. Babies should be fat, in my opinion. You have rolls of fat covering your knees that look like little butts. You have these thunder thighs that are incredible. Your calves are like marshmallows but they taper down into petite feet and adorable tiny toes. Your arms are so soft and squishy I just have to nibble them. Your cheeks are plump and dimpled when you smile and when you're crawling around naked, well, you look like a little pink piglet sans the curly tail. I can't get enough of you, baby!!

You are developing a sense of humor that is pretty fun to watch. You recently started shaking your head "no". I'm not sure how you picked up the habit but your sibs love to encourage you in it! They shake their heads and you watch and then shake your head. They laugh like crazy and you laugh and you all do it again. Sometimes when you're just sitting in my lap or playing on the floor you will stop and shake your head vigorously and then smile to yourself. Are you practicing for being a 2-year-old?

Here's a few other things:

• You smile and laugh a lot.
• You love hearing your name and I love singing it and saying it.
• You are very tolerant of me changing your clothes a lot and making you wear dresses and headbands and hats and all sorts of cute things.
• You are sensitive and cry when someone yells or if you bump your head.
• You don't like Papa's whiskery kisses but if he's just shaved his top lip you will sometimes kiss him back.
• You nurse a lot.
• You've just started trying to nurse and talk at the same time and I'm a little ambivalent about that.
• You like to be swaddled still and sometimes won't fall asleep unless you're wrapped up like a burrito.
• You nap well but you still wake up a lot at night. I'm okay with that.
• You sleep partly in bed with me and partly 2 feet away in your crib.
• Your hair is starting to grow, and it looks light-goldeny-brown. I hope it curls.
• You look like your brother Moses.
  
• You haven't eaten a lot of solid food yet, besides Cheerios. You didn't like the pureed food I made very much, and in fact I think that's where you learned to shake your head "no".
• Last night we grilled and you ate about a pound of watermelon and some pre-masticated pork chop. You like meat! Maybe I was just feeding you the wrong stuff.
  
• You are really, really fun and sweet and you light up my life and I adore you!!

(This is from April when she just learned to crawl.)