Four Months!

Dear Maya,

My butterball. My pork chop. My little spicy meatball. My sweetheart. My love.... I simply cannot believe you are already four months old! Watching you grow each day is pure joy. I dont know how else to put it. It is truly remarkable. You no longer need my help with so many things. You sleep through the night. You spend time playing on your own. You crack yourself up. Each day your personality develops a bit more and I am getting to know the kind of person you are going to be.



You like some toys more than others. You love attention. You are sweet and lovely, you are a ham, you are sometimes temperamental. You have very strong opinions and you let us know your preferences right away. My little munchkin, I should have expected this. Before you were born, you wanted to stay head up. When we brought you home from the hospital, you decided that you wanted to sleep in your crib, not the bassinet. About a week after you turned 3 months old, you decided you were done with nursing and would only drink from your bottle. While the nursing strike hurt my feelings a little, I don’t hold a grudge. I can tell you are going to grow up to be a strong, independent, graceful, intelligent woman. You like things on your terms. You are so very much like your daddy in so many ways. I just hope you let me make some of the decisions along the way.



You are a happy girl, you smile and laugh and babble. You’ve become much more vocal this month. When I talk to you for a few minutes, you start to babble right back at me. We have some very in-depth conversations. You shriek with joy when Daddy makes silly faces at you and crack up when he tickles you. You will smile back at pretty much any happy face. I think you're beginning to recognize your name and you recognize mommy and daddy.





I’ve returned to work and you have transitioned beautifully. You have so much fun at home with daddy and you love him very much. You go on long walks together, you play and read books. I don’t know who is enjoying these days more- you or him.



You’ve been going to daycare twice a week, and you seem to love all the action, friends and toys. It’s great to have you a block from my office, I love visiting you in the afternoon. You seem to like the fish tank and other babies there. All of the teachers say you are a wonderful and happy baby… and you are! You look up at me when I walk in the door and you give a big gummy grin- it’s very cute.



You are a total ham in front of the camera. You smile for the flash but you still haven’t decided whether or not you like the video camera. It seems to fascinate and confuse you. The other day we played peek-a-boo for the camera, it was so much fun!



You are getting stronger and you move a lot. While you can’t quite roll over yet, you can turn from your back onto your side. You do this to wiggle and shimmy across your play mat. I think this is how you move around in your crib at night. When I get you in the morning, it’s always fun to see where you’ve ended up.



Your depth perception is developing nicely. You’ve started to grab toys and you are learning more about how toys work. You like the sound your rattle makes and the song your exersaucer makes. You also grab my hair a lot… and boy do you hold on tightly!



You’ve started to like your pacifier much more- it seems to soothe you to sleep. Still, you continue to suck your fingers all day long. Your favorites are your pointer and middle fingers, but really any one will do. It's getting hard to take a picture of you without your hands in your mouth. We have an exersaucer and a swing and toys and books and puppets- yet your hands remain your favorite activity.



We watched the Royal Wedding together. You sat in your bumbo and watched the whole ceremony. I think you want to be a princess when you grow up. You are my little princess, my beautiful little girl. Your skin is so smooth and fair, it looks like porcelain its so perfect. And your deep blue eyes are so round and warm. You always have this wide-eyed look as though everything in the world is interesting.



You celebrated several 'first' holidays this month. You had your first Passover Seder and thanks to you I got to experience my first Mother's Day. We had a fantastic day; you made a card for me, we sang songs, we went for a walk and we went out to dinner.





Thank you for making us a family. Thank you for stealing my heart. Thank you for your nuzzles and sighs as we rock to sleep in your quiet dark room. Thank you for your smiles and giggles. What a wonderful, wild ride this motherhood thing is. I love being your mom.

Love,
Mommy