Dear Alexis,

I’m beginning to understand why parents have a tendency to baby their youngest. As a parent of one I had free time to read ahead. I was always researching what comes next, what emerging skills to look out and how best to prepare for them. With two I’m lucky if I have time to shower. I’m so used to thinking of you as my little newborn it only occurred to me a few days ago that you should be eating solids soon. In my defense, you also only recently started to show signs that you’re interested in food. I guess you aren’t hitting all your milestones super early!

We had a bit of a rocky move to the new house. I didn’t time things well which meant a rush hour drive from silicon valley to east bay when both you and your sister were tired and hungry. What should have been a smooth hour drive turned into 120 minutes of slow going. Not that I can blame you for getting a little stir crazy towards the end. Part of the desire for our move was to escape this kind of rush hour traffic! Painful drive aside, both you and your big sister love the new place. You quickly learned the high ceilings made impressive echoes and enjoyed showing off your voice in delightful squeals and screams.

Speaking of voices, you have been using more and more of yours. You’re jabbering a ton. You enjoy talking to mommy, daddy, big sister, even your binky. The latter we discovered one day after you seemed to be having an incredibly long nap. We peeked in on you and saw you having quite the conversation with the binky. You love your binky even more than your sister loved hers.

You are also getting more and more into your toys. This month we broke out the rest of the infant toys we had still in storage. You love each and every one of them. You chomp on the nodule atop Chan Poo’s (our nickname for the Vulli’s blue chan pie gnon teether) head, spin the egg in the jumperoo, and bang the monkey and elephant rattles together. You’re an equal opportunist when it comes to toys, and will gladly accept anything we – or your sister – gives you to play with. It keeps us on our toes as your sister loves to fetch both your toys and her toys to share with you. The other day she said while giving you back the taggy blanket you had dropped. “Baby likes toys. Nicole likes toys. Nicole has lots of toys.” You are one lucky little girl!

Life here in the suburbs is quieter and more relaxed than what we’ve experienced before. We fall asleep to the sounds of crickets instead of sirens. I’m so excited to be starting this next chapter in our lives.

Love Always,
Mommy & Daddy

Posted in Family Life | Tags: Alexis