Thanks for the calendar! I’m happy to see some of my favorite photos in it!
See you soon!
Love Grandma and Papa
012.26.11 A Note from Grandma
Dear Emeline,
The other day, you pointed at a rake and said, “Wassat?”
I said, “That’s a rake.”
“Yeah,” you replied, nodding, “to pull da leebz.”
At which point my heart turned into a rainbow and exploded.
Love,
Daddy
011.06.11 Colchester Pond
Dear Emeline,
Today, your mother and I took you for a hike. We went to Colchester Pond. Our dog Lucky came with us. You had been there once before, but I think it was before you were walking, so you certainly didn’t remember it. This was a whole new experience for you.
On the way there, we stopped at the field up the road to let Lucky do his business. You got a little excited there, because we’ve been taking our walks in that area a lot. I had to explain to you that we were going to “different woods,” a phrase which you internalized and repeated about ten times on the rest of the car trip. Our route took us past the playground, which both you and Lucky recognized. You both got worked up again upon seeing that, and you voiced your hope aloud that we would be stopping at the “paydown.” Alas, it was not to be.
You pretty much ran full tilt through the entire first half of the hike. Lately you only have two speeds when we go on walks: Fast and Not at All. You ripped up the first part of the hike like it was nothing, tearing through the fields and clambering up the hills in the woods. Occasionally you slipped on the leaves, but you almost never complain when you fall unless there is actual injury.
Once we hit the halfway point, things started to get a little more difficult. There was quite a lot of climbing to do and your mother and I had forgotten just how far this hike was. The second half, along the far side of the pond, found us alternating between coaxing you to walk, picking you up, putting you down, holding your hand, not holding your hand and repeating the cycle over and over. You know when you need a rest, and you don’t have any qualms about showing us.
In the end, though, you walked 90% of the hike yourself — and it ended up being about three miles! When you got to the car, you echoed your mother’s sentiment gleefully, shouting “I did it! I did it!”
You’re an impressive kid.
Love, Daddy
010.23.11 You are Here!
Dear Emeline,
It’s a been a while since I posted something on your site. I’ve been thinking lately about how that gap might appear to you if you read these entries years from now. I would like to just explain that it is not due to any drop-off in focus on you. In fact, the reason is just the opposite. So much of what I wrote here in the early months of your life was speculation, musing about your future and our future together. Then, all of a sudden it seemed, you exploded in a burst of development and skyrocketing cognitive growth. Ever since you passed the 18-month mark, you have been a whirlwind of action, learning and life.
I initially used these letters as a way to communicate with you before you could communicate, I now realize. I wanted very much to know who you would become and to interact with you on a deeper level, but you were still a baby and you weren’t yet ready to be able to do that. Now, though, we have entire conversations! We talk about options and preferences and memories, and we make up stories together to act out with your toys. You are a whole new you, who is completely engrossing and takes up almost all of my focus when we spend time together — which is a lot!
As a result of that amazing surge of growth, I have felt the need to write here less often because I get so much of the connection I yearned for when you were younger. It’s here — you are here! You are my favorite little person, and I get to play with you every day! Why spend time writing to you when I can just pick you up and tickle you, and you’ll laugh and ask for more?
But I do still value these letters as a way of communicating with your future self and expressing myself to you in a little more sophistication than you are yet equipped to follow. So I will keep writing, and reminding myself to do so.
I love you,
Daddy
010.22.11 Week 18: Baby girl!
Dear baby 2 be,
On the night of October 11, we said to Emmy “Do you want a boy baby or a girl baby?” and she said “Girl baby!” On October 12th, your dad, sister, Grandma, Papa, Uncle Jordan and I all crowded into the ultrasound room to discover that it appears to be a healthy baby girl on the way! The technician commented that your second toe is longer than your big toe. You were active and on the move throughout the ultrasound. Your dad held my arm and teared up. I couldn’t take my eyes off your image on the screen. We all went out to dinner to celebrate after.
Wow, to wrap my mind around the idea of two little girls in my life! The research is promising!
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/family/8429386/Want-to-be-happy-have-two-daughters.html
http://jezebel.com/5195336/having-a-sister-makes-you-happier-and-more-well-adjusted
To summarize, as these links may not always work, the studies find that families with two daughters report the highest levels of happiness and harmony in their homes and siblings with at least one sister report feeling happier, more positive and communicative. It is interesting that such generalizations can be made when there are so many factors and variables operating in any given family, but the findings have been consistent.
You and Emmy will likely have ups and downs in your relationship throughout your lives but my hope is that your bond with each other is special and deep, as well as with your mom and dad!
As I type this, we start our 20th week- the halfway point! 20 more weeks to go!
love, mom
010.09.11 17 and a 1/2 weeks
Dear mover and shaker,
Whoa, baby! Halfway through the 17th week, the vague flutterings and twinges and occasional kick turned into some major movement. A few nights ago I lay in bed and played tag with you. I could feel a shape immediately beneath my belly button that had to be an arm or a leg. When I poked it, you moved and the limb went away and then came back and I poked it again. This level of movement and interaction is what I expected midway through the third trimester, not at 17 weeks! Since then I have felt you moving and turning and stretching regularly.
Emmy points to her belly and says she has a baby in there too.
Three days until the ultrasound!
love, Mom
010.02.11 Two years old
Dear Emeline,
About a month before your second birthday, we noticed an evolution into pretend, imaginative play. You love to take a stuffed animal and hold one or two and have us hold one and engage in dialogue. Initially, you would hand Dad or me a stuffed animal and say “Help.” Then your Dad taught you to say “Play with me”.
Usually, the animals say “Hi!” and “What are you doing there?” to each other, followed by eating of birthday cake and going down the slide (usually mom or dad’s leg). Then your animal falls off something and Mom/Dad’s animal says “Are you ok?” and your animal says yes or indicates a boo boo. Then Mom/Dad glaze over and space out and your animal gets in their face and says “Playwithme, playwithme!”
Referring to yourself in the third person has been replaced with “I” and “me”. When we ask you to do something you don’t want to do, we get a tortured sounding “WHYyy!?!” You’ve mastered the disappointed groan- aaeerghhh. You’ve also mastered the concept of taking turns and I hear a lot of “Bubba’s turn, Bubba’s turn!” You’ve gotten good at saying “Please”, “Thank you”, “Sorry” and “Excuse me.” As in “I burp! Seeyoo me!”
When we are driving and we turn in a direction you’ve decided you don’t want to go in, you say from the backseat “No, ass way!” (That way!) You love to hear songs on the radio and “More songs! More songs!” is a common refrain. As soon as a song stops playing, you say “More songs!?” and we say “Okay” and another one automatically starts playing. You particularly love the “Mickey Mouse song” and request that one over and over.
You show empathy and concern. If one of us looks tired or feels under the weather, you worry that we might be sad. You identify feelings of characters in book illustrations or on Sesame St or Curious George.
You love to draw and color at your table or using the magnetic doodleboard. Your latest favorite request is to have us trace our hands. You still request happy and sad face drawings once in a while.
I’ve told you that you are cute so many times that you say it, especially when you put on a hat or a new outfit. “I cute!”
I love to watch you run. Your gait has gotten smoother and smoother, but your arms still flail every which way and your delightful cheeks bounce around your mouth.
You handled one of those white spiky caterpillars and broke out in an itchy rash on your face, arms and belly. Mom and Dad did some googling to realize what happened (there must have been many more calls to the doctor and ER pre-internet!) No more caterpillar handling for you!
Your walking and hiking skills are unbelievable. I just can’t get over your stamina. You can do lengthy hikes that must seem five times longer to you than it does to us.
You developed a hilarious ‘demon voice’ from your high chair. One night you said “MORE PLEASE” in a deep demon voice and we all laughed so much that you like to bring it out now and then.
When you want our attention or you want to stall bedtime, you say “Wait wait!” which means “pay attention to me!” If you realize that you are being loud or that something else is loud you say “Shhh!” and put your finger at your mouth…sideways!
We had a great trip to Crystal Lake and celebrated your second birthday there. You got a lot of great items for your play kitchen that we got you and a doll from your great grandma. You had birthday cake and it seemed like a really significant event to you because you bring it up often in your play.
Last weekend, Mom and Dad went to western NY to attend a film festival where your Dad’s movie was premiering. You went and stayed with Nana and Dodo. Per usual, the parting was much rougher for us. You, on the other hand, didn’t bat an eye or shed a tear! You had a great time at their house and tumbled around on the floor with Uncle Nate’s puppy. They couldn’t get over how happy and engaging you are.
Sometimes you like to test us, particularly around batting at Lucky in the face with a stuffed animal and continuing to do it despite repeated requests to stop. We may be on the cusp on introducing the time out… You are finally beginning to drop food on the floor less though, that only took about 15 months! You say “Not Lucky food, Lucky food in the bowl” and we whole heartedly agree with you.
Just the other night, you were done with what you were eating on your tray and you requested “something else! something else!”
You love to ride in the grocery cart ‘cars’ that they have at Hannaford. You get in the seat and turn the steering wheel when the cart turns. Sometimes you sing the alphabet song at the top of your lungs throughout the store.
You are awake from your nap and your cheerful voice is piping over the monitor. Time to go get you!
love, bubba
Dear baby ninja,
You are five inches long and able to suck your thumb and make all sorts of human facial expressions. It’s wild to imagine you so tiny and yet so human. Your ultrasound is on October 12th, I can’t wait!!
I’m calling you a ninja because we had a scare at the 12th week doctor’s appointment. The doctor couldn’t find your heartbeat! She called in another doctor and he couldn’t find it either. We hadn’t had any luck either, trying a handful of times to find your heartbeat at home with the doppler, prior to the appointment. The doc said he wasn’t worried yet and had me scheduled to come in next week.
He told me not to worry but of course I was worried! This hormonal pregnant lady was in tears in the parking lot of Milton Family Practice and required an emergency portion of Ben and Jerry’s ice cream. Your Dad was so reassuring and comforting and wasn’t stressed like I was. When I got home, I tried not to think about it too much, but I kept worrying. Finally, I grabbed the doppler and said to your Dad “Damn it, I’m going to find this heartbeat if it takes all night!” I put the doppler wand a couple inches below below my belly button and IMMEDIATELY, in that exact spot, your heartbeat came through loud and clear! It was as if you were saying, “Alright, alright, here I am, quit your fussing!”
I am in full on maternity wear now. More and more people and kids at work have noticed and ask me all about you. Sometimes I feel more and more like you are a boy, but have plenty of reasonable doubt. We will have to wait and see!
I cried at a car commercial the other day. I cried both times I saw it. What a classic pregnancy thing to do. The commercial is the one for a Saburu, where a Dad is talking through the window to a little 3 or 4 year old girl in the driver’s seat. He’s telling her to be careful and not to text, etc and she’s giving cute little girl responses and it’s pretty funny. But then she turns into a teenager and drives away. BAWL!
This October weekend is cold and rainy. The weather is triggering the urge to cook and bake and put things in the crockpot, and you are intensifying it! Friday night I made banana bread, yesterday was roast chicken and apple crisp, and today is stew in the crockpot and baked potato in the oven.
I still can’t quite wrap my head around the fact that you will be here in five and a half months. Oh my gosh, I can’t wait to meet you.
love, Mom
Dear baby to be,
12 weeks! You are over two inches long already, the size of a lime. The first trimester is flying by!
Halfway through the 8th week, my belly started to pooch right out! I knew that I would show earlier in the second pregnancy but I didn’t think it would happen that early!
Sometimes I’m pretty sure I can feel you moving, although technically it is too early. For a while I felt like you might be a boy, then I felt like you would be a girl. Now I’m really not sure!
I’m looking forward to the doctor’s appointment the day after tomorrow and I’m hoping to hear your heartbeat.
Sometimes when your sister is being loud, we tell her the baby is sleeping (in my belly). She puts her finger to her lips and says “shhh..baby sleeping” although that doesn’t mean she necessarily quiets down! I bought her a couple of “Big Sister” shirts today.
One of the biggest differences between the first and second pregnancies is the anticipation of the sibling relationship and how your arrival changes and adds to our family. When you are here, we will be complete!
Love, your Mom
Dear Baby-2-be, 8/2/11
I had my first pregnancy-related dream last night. I was in a sunlit room that had medical equipment. I grabbed an ultrasound wand and was able to see your little image, the size of a kidney bean. This is the first time I’ve had a pregnancy dream that showed me exactly where we are, in the here and now. Usually my pregnancy dreams focus, with curiosity and/or anxiety, on the future.
When I discovered the pregnancy test was positive (on July 6, 2011), I handed the test to your sister and had her give it to your Dad. I became teary eyed with happiness and your Dad went to get cake and ice cream and brought it back and we celebrated.
Suddenly, just a couple days ago, my belly got bigger! Already! I knew I would show sooner with a second pregnancy, but didn’t expect it would happen at 8 weeks! I don’t have morning sickness or other symptoms really but I really “feel” pregnant, even this early. Sometimes I feel small twinges. I definitely feel you.
I tried going running the other day. Wow. I can definitely feel, when I run, exactly how my body resources are being taken up with creating life. I probably have about 60% of the endurance and stamina that I had just a month ago.
We point at my belly and ask Emmy what’s in there. She says, “baby!”
I’m nervous about how everything may change next March. Will we be able to juggle two children- naps and meals and bedtime? How will Emmy feel about your arrival? I also worry about dumb stuff that I read in articles and online. For a while there I was obsessing about whether lack of vitamin D from the sun during the third trimester could be an issue, then I worried what if I get the flu during the winter months? What if I get a flu shot and it’s bad for you? What if fish oil supplements don’t remove mercury like they say they do? What if flakes of nonstick teflon get into every meal I make?
Everything will be fine.
Just keep growing, baby, and be as healthy as you possibly can be. We can’t wait to meet you!
love, Mom