twenty three

dear grace,
today you sat up all by yourself for the longest time ever! it was such a miracle to watch you learn to do that. you are trying to grab everything and trying to talk to everyone. my favorite is when you coo really quietly and in a high voice. you slip and slide all around different octaves, changing the way your mouth moves and making all sorts of sounds. i like to copy you and watch you smile, like we are sharing some sort of secret with each other. you are becomming very very tickleish, your feet and your hands and under your chin. today you lay on the bed and i just poked you all over and you laughed and laughed. then i tried to eat your foot and you thought that was hysterical. it's great being the funniest person! my ego is feeling pretty good! in the meantime, the child upstairs throws between 7-20 fits of screaming a day. i'm not sure what his problem is... if he is tired or both parents aren't around enough... but he stomps around and SCREEEAAMS and i'm telling you, if you act like that i will smack the crap out of you. that sounds really intense- but behavior like that is simply unacceptable to get what you want. my parents never beat me, but they made sure that i knew that screaming and crying was not a way to get what i wanted. in fact- that was the best way to get sent to my room or have everything i liked taken away. so i learned really really fast not to throw huge fits. sure i whined, and i complained, and i cried- every kid does. but i dont think i ever screamed and screamed and screamed. and if i did- my parents should have beat the crap out of me. and i was a pretty awful child. i bit people and i bit a hole in my mom's first brand new car... i pinched and poked and taunted. i gave things away that weren't mine to give, and i took things that weren't mine. but i turned out alright. and i really really hope that you do too. i think that's an important part of parenting- is taking the best parts of both sides of the family and putting them together, and then taking the parts that you wish you could forget and omitting those the best you can. growing up is a magical thing, it shouldn't be tainted with tears and angry yelling. no child should have to act like a tyrant to communicate how they feel. it makes me sort of sad. anyways, it's easy for me to talk about other kid's problems since i have the perfect child. now. but, no matter what happens, no matter if you get in trouble and disagree with us, we love you very much. and we will always always always do our best to be fair and kind to you. you may not understand this until you are much older, but we want to be your dear friends. we want you to come to us when you are sad or lonely, and especially when you are happy. you are the greatest joy in our lives. i am grateful every single day that you came here. sometimes you are the only thing we agree on. i think we are all coming down with a cold. so i've put dad to bed with a humidifier, a box of tissues and a huge bottle of water. and you, i filled your nose with saline solution (which you haaate but we do it every night because it keeps you healthy) and bundled you up. it's really hard to keep you warm all night, you've become such a wiggler!!! you just started bouncing your bum up and down in the air, arching your back and trying to flip everywhere like a fish. and something funny today you started opening and closing your mouth really big (like a fish!) whenever you wanted to eat or chew on something and it was really really really hilarious. you are growing up so quickly. and becoming very cuddly. that's my favorite part. you lay your head on my shoulder and wrap your little chubby legs around my waist and tuck your arms into my chest. and just smile. you are the most beautiful thing on earth.
i love you,
mom

twenty two

dear grace,
sorry its been so long, oh my goodness! you are growing too fast. you are trying to crawl but with your big belly you are what dad says "high centered". you swim and swim and swim and throw your hands back like superman and kick but you aren't moving yet. too much at least. i do wonder how you get to be upside down and backwards in bed, but there are some things i can't explain. besides, i think you're a genius. this morning you woke me up babbling to yourself and squeeling. i love that sound. i just laid there and listened to you. you love to play peek a boo, and hide under the covers. we made a sock puppet yesterday and named her Jo boxer. you are trying very hard to sit up, you get your whole upper body up but havent figured out that you can use things around you to help yourself. you are beginning solid foods, we tried peas yesterday and you werent sure if you liked them but you still have to eat them. :] said lovingly. yuou are so wiggly! oh my gosh. and you are cutting two little teeth on the bottom center. you farted a ton in church really loud and a couple in front of us started blaming each other for farting. it was pretty funny. they have a little girl named ruby who is two weeks younger than you, but everyone thinks you are at least 10 months old. you are huge. you were sleeping through the night but have recently started waking up again to eat. you are a hungry little thing. you also have discovered that your mouth can make farting sounds in a pout. and when you are upset or bored you start making that noise constantly. it's pretty cute. your eyes are still very blue and beautiful. you weigh about 21 pounds. you are very tickleish. you think grandma francis is a computer because we facetime every day almost. you wave your feet around jjust like grandpa francis. and recently youve become very cuddly! i love it!
mom