Five Months

Dear Sylvia,

You went to your very first wedding last night and I'm so glad we decided to take you.  I was worried about keeping you up too late, but as usual, you were an absolutely perfect baby.  One question people kept asking us was, "Is she always this good?" to which we responded, "Yes, of course!" But another question someone asked was, "How old is she?"  Daddy and I looked at each other and I said, "Oh, she's about....five months?  Yeah, she's five months."  The lady walked away and I thought, "Holy Crap!  Our daughter is totally five months old, as of three days ago, and I completely missed it!"

Oops.  Sorry.  You're five months and four days old today, so I'm not that off.  It's just that you've been so good lately, and you've been growing and developing like every good baby should, that I kind of lost count of the months.  Not to mention, we've been a little busy around here now that school's started.  What is school, you ask?  Well, it's the place where Mommy and Daddy go every day to take care of other kids and make sure they know all the things they're supposed to know once they grow up.  Meanwhile we send you to your own school where someone else takes care of you and teaches you all of the things you'll need to know once you're big enough to go to Mommy's school and eventually to Daddy's school.  It's all very weird and complicated when I really stop to think about it, but that's the way it works.  We all go to school every day and come back home to be together every night.  It's exhausting.  We're all tired.  But darn it, we love it, and so do you, so we'll keep doing it every day.

Nugget, you are such a beautiful baby.  The ladies at your daycare constantly tell us how wonderful and happy you are.  You're starting to get big enough that we can really toss you around, tickle you, and play with you until you laugh and laugh, which makes everyone's heart melt.  You're eating a little bit of solid food these days.  Mostly rice cereal and squash.  You loooove squash and soon we're going to try some green beans!  Yum!  You're starting to sit up for a few seconds on your own, but it's really just a balancing act.  You love your jumparoo and your play mat.  You love to roll onto your tummy but you still don't like to roll from your tummy to your back, for some reason.  Every once in a while you'll do a few barrel rolls across the floor, but usually you just scrunch up your legs and pull yourself from one side of your mat to the other, rotating around on your back and having a dandy ol' time.  You're a lot of fun to watch.   

We love you more than we ever thought we could.  When I see the way Daddy looks at you, I know that we've been given the perfect baby girl for us.  My Mom used to tell me, "If God lined up all the little girls in the whole wide world and told me I could pick any one I wanted, I'd still pick you."  I always loved hearing her say that and now I know it's true, because I'd do the same for you.  Every time...

I'd still pick you.  You're the coolest.  I love you.

Forever and ever,

Mama