Month eight letter

Dear Maddy,

Today, my girl, you are 8 months old. And these have been the hardest, yet most amazing, 8 months of my life.

This month you have learned to (belly) crawl, sprouted 2 teeth, fell in love with feeding yourself (and the mess that ensues) and every day show us something new. A new sound, a new smile, a new activity. Everything changes daily. Yet you are still enamoured with singing, even mine, and still find tongues sticking out funny, and love to be bounced, and love to go out and see new things and meet new people. You are starting to look more like me but still look so much like your dada. It's fun to see you take something from each of us and turn it into a whole new fabulous person.

You are fearless, as only an 8 month old can be. You will touch and taste anything that you can. Dirty or clean, edible or decidedly not, bolted down or free - it is in your hands and seconds later in your mouth. We have the house pretty child proofed. You can't quite open cabinets or the kitchen drawers, but you are days from doing it. So I better get those locks on before... Same as the dropping of the crib mattress. You are not standing (yet) but you will be. And to prevent you from tumbling headfirst over the railing, your mattress has been dropped. Harder on my back, easier on my mental state.

You are selfish in the same way you are fearless. You can't understand the world apart from you (and your needs) in that world. This is the one time in your life where you are allowed to completely selfish, so enjoy every second of it my girl. There is no "later", no "in 5 minutes" in your world now. It really is a joy to try to guess your needs and provide what you want, when you want it. No, it's really more an honour. And, no, that wasn't sarcasm, my Nunu. It really is an honour to be your mom.

Today your dada and I were talking about love. Dada and I love each other very much. We are best friends and committed to spending the rest of our days together. But the love we have for you is so different. We love you for who you are, the characteristics you have shown us to date. You have the sweetest and most charming personality. And you are so free with your smiles and giggles! You are an explorer and a thinker. You are independent. But you are still pretty easy-going and will let us cart you around anywhere and will happily visit with almost everyone. But beyond that, the love we feel is not a choice, it's biological. It's primal love. We created you and we made a vow to care for you forever. We love you with every cell in our bodies.

As I was typing this out you crawled on your hands and knees for the first time! You were grumping as you did it, but you crawled! Oh Nunu, it's happening so fast. And we're loving every speeding second of it!

I am loving every moment with you and also can't wait to see what is around the corner. Happy 8 months, my girl, my Madds, my Nunu, my perfect Maddy.

Love,

Mom