A Letter to my 8 month old

My Dearest Meredith Laurel,
You continue to change before my very eyes and you continue to become more fun everyday. This month, in my eyes, you ceased to be my tiny baby girl and became what I refer to you as, "my grown up baby."

This month you became mobile. You have started crawling and exploring and going after what you want. You no longer sit idly playing with toys, but instead seek after whatever you can see and reach. These things tend to be on the dangerous side- radiators, electrical outlets, power cords and our tiny little space heater. We are child-proofing as best we can, but you will continue to keep us on our toes, I fear.

And as if crawling weren't enough, you have also learned to pull yourself up. You stand in your crib. You pull up on our coffee table and on your dresser. You even moved between two objects while standing yesterday. Stop that! Stop that behavior that resembles walking. You are my wittle bitty baby!

While those developments were so exciting and welcome, one thing that I could've done without this month was your nap strike. You didn't give up naps all together, but I'd say that more often than not, your naps were 20 minutes or less. The past few days have been better, so I have hope it was just a phase.

You are becoming so much more aware of yourself and of your surroundings. You notice our food and must have it. You chew on your toes and make sounds with your hands. You play with your tongue and perpetually scratch your head. If you drop something or I hide a dangerous object, you no longer simply forget it, but instead strain your head to find the missing thing.

This month was hard for your mommy. End of winter blues, less breaks due to nap strike, general loneliness and missing my own mommy. But at the end of every day I feel so grateful to be your mom. I can pick you up and you will wrap your little arms around my neck, suck my jaw (which I imagine is your version of a kiss) and even just for a few moments, everything feels so much better. Thank you, sweet girl, for being such a brightly shining star.

I love you to the moon and back,
Mommy