Dear Maia,

Well, the good news is this: you’re not yet walking on your own.  The bad news is this: if I analyze your movements long enough, I become convinced that you actually are.

That video is not long enough to show what you did afterward — one of your favourite new activities, banging on things.  You are never happier than when you have a wooden or hard plastic toy in hand and are smashing it against something else solid, raising a racket.  Oh, wait, I lie: you’re even happier if you are also giving off your patented Maia Was A Velociraptor In A Former Life screech.  At these times, your Daddy and I just look at each other and shrug, because really?  You are just so damned happy.  Interrupting would result only in your anger, and you are REALLY good, like almost admirably amazing, at throwing hissy fits that last approximately, oh… forever.

This month, we moved your crib into the bedroom (because your Daddy wanted the pack & play in the living room… I don’t know, ask him why), which means you are at eye-level with me.  For a few mornings, we had your favourite wooden toy in the crib so you could amuse yourself with it in the morning, but after you woke me up banging it against the side of the crib, that toy found a new home in the living room.  On the floor.  Where I now step on it at least once a day.  Oh, the joys!

In your crib, you have a little stuffed bear.  You LOVE to snuggle with it!  Every time you wake up to nurse and I pull you into bed, you are holding the bear in your right hand (because you self-soothe on your left “fingees”), but if I nurse you on the left so your right arm is trapped, you’ll switch the bear to your free hand.  Then you start flailing him all over the place, rubbing him across your face and mine, over my chest, against your side.  Sometimes you’ll delatch and push one of the bear’s paws into your mouth for a moment before returning to me.  It always makes me smile.

What makes me smile less, though, is that recently you seem to be having a lot of trouble returning to sleep once you’re up.  I’m not sure if this is teething, or just physical & mental development.  You’ll fall asleep in my arms, and wake up when I put you in the crib, at which point you roll over, push yourself into a sitting position, and suddenly stand up against the side, whining and moaning with your head hanging down sleepily.  I can tell you’re just as frustrated as I am, so that does make me have a little bit of sympathy, but at the same time… it’s so frustrating!  Last night we spent over an hour playing this game with one another.

But during the days, oh my baby girl, we have so much fun.  Once you’re in bed, I find myself wishing you were awake to play with, and before I fall asleep every night I think about all the fun things we’ll do tomorrow.  This month, we discovered something that makes you INCREDIBLY happy:

Ohh yes.  Swinging makes you a happy, giggling, smiling, ecstatic little ball of love. This picture is my desktop and let me tell you, Maia, you love it as much as I do.  If you spot it, even from across the room, you make this little delighted noise, so I bring you closer… and you start talking to the picture. SO CUTE.  If I point at my screen and exclaim, “That’s Maia!” you laugh and laugh.

Or, you know, maybe you just really like looking at yourself.

Another thing that makes you laugh is when we fake bite you.  This is especially effective when combined with “scaring” or surprising you; I look away from you as though I’m not paying attention, then suddenly growl and snap at you, and you LAUGH!  Daddy says you’re going to like horror movies.  I tell you right now, Maia, I do NOT like them, not at all, so if you want to watch them, it’s going to have to be with some not-Mama person (I suddenly feel as if I have presented you with the perfect excuse to get out of the house in the future).

Earlier this month,we realized you had never met another baby.  And, yes, we felt horrible about this.  Fortunately, your friend Lily came over and you two hung out while the parents chatted.  We all went down to the waterfront and enjoyed the Ribfest, which was REALLY tasty.  You and Lily?  Yeah, you ate carrots.  Maybe next year you’ll get some yummy ribs!

We visited family and you went in a swimming pool for the first time.  It was kind of a cool day, so you didn’t stay in for too long, but you seemed to enjoy it well enough.  I have the feeling that soon enough, you’ll be begging to spend summers with these relatives because Mommy, they have a pool, pleeeeease I wanna go swimming! and to be honest, I REALLY enjoy swimming and am totally pissed off that I only got to go once, so I’ll probably cave in.  I won’t even complain (much) about my poor post-pregnancy, untoned, frighteningly floppy body.

Since you move around so much these days and you love water so much (channeling your Aunt Katie), you take big girl baths now.

See that face? You’ve developed a habit of puckering your lips, wrinkling your nose, and huffing like a bull, and this is a mild version of it.  Usually you’re so into it that your puckered lips are white, your brow furrowed, and your eyes dark little slits.  It’s truly hilarious, and I’ve tried to video tape it, but so far I’m not having any luck with that.  I’m not too worried, though, since it seems like a habit you’re not keen to give up anytime soon.

In case it hasn’t come through in this letter, you are currently amazing.  You amuse us, inspire us, and sometimes make us pull out our hair (err… yes, I know your Daddy doesn’t have hair, don’t correct me!), but there isn’t a single day — a single hour — that goes by without us thinking about how stunningly beautiful you are, inside and out.  You enrich our lives.  We have so much fun with you around, and watching you grow up is amazing.  I want to keep you at this age, but at the same time, I can’t wait to see how you change and develop every single day.

We love you, you little gangsta.

Love,
Mama & Daddy