twenty six?

dear grace,
do i need to say you are growing too fast? on the 17th of january you began army crawling, saying 'ma ma ma' AND sat up by yourself. you were pleasantly surprised by it too. you also have problems with me going out of your line of vision and promptly begin to yell. we don't like that development too much but i'm going to take it as a compliment. you are truly inconsolable without your mother. you also yell in between bites of food, demanding MORE MORE MORE! with the trial of new ffood comes the sad discovery that you get diaper rash with some solid foods more than others. you are learning how to pinch your pointer and thumb finger together, so you pick up small pieces of food and put them in your mouth- but you don't know to let GO of the food yet so you pull your hand back out with the food still in it and look very confused. you raise your eyebrows up and down and make wonderful expressions. you take your vitamins without complaint and the only thing you don't like is getting your nose sucked out before bedtime. me blowing my nose terrifies you, you startle and then you faceplant trying to crawl to me as fast as you can. you aren't sure about the vacuum cleaner anymore... and the hairdryer is confusing. since you have become more aware of your surroundings you are WIGGLY OH MY GOODNESS. you are never NEVER still. you twist and turn and bounce and try to pull yourself up on EVERYTHING. you can't yet, thank goodness but it wont be long. i had a melt down the other day and cried and you just pulled on my leg until i lifted you up and then you looked straight into my face very seriously and stuck your forehead against mine. you did this over and over again until i stopped crying. it was very sweet.
well darling, you are learning a lot and doing wonderfully at it. i love to watch you. if i had endless space in the world i would want to record every second of your life and replay it over and over again. i don't want to forget any part of you.
you've been my only/very best friend these days gracie. that's a big burden for a little 8 month old (almost) to carry.
i love you.
mom