…all squished together to parallel the way they played out in real life.
Dear Juniper,
The day after you turned 5 months old, you hopped on a jumbo jet, crossed the Atlantic Ocean and traipsed around the land of the gods for a few days while soaking up some Mediterranean sun with your mama and couple of her friends. I can’t tell you how many people thought, and told me to my face, that I was crazy redunculous (to be used when things are so beyond ridiculous, they’re reDUNCulous) for booking such a trip. Your Halmoni even offered to give me the cost of the trip to not go on the trip! Perhaps it was the spontaneity of it (planned just a week prior) or perhaps it was simply the thought of taking a five-month-old over 3000 miles (24 hours of travel) to a land where everything is Greek! (Pun intended) Regardless, my stubbornness kicked in and off we went!
To be perfectly honest with you, this was a trip I needed to take to prove to myself many things that I will talk to you about when you’re older and thinking about having kids of your own. It was both easy and hard in many different ways. In the end, I am so glad that we made the journey together. Mama found the answers she was looking for AND learned what a fantastic person you are turning out to be.
After the trip to Greece, we only had a week to recover before we were off on another excursion: a week in Chicago with Halmoni and your aunts, Nobby & Colsy. Again, you were a supa trupa (super trooper)! Five hour car ride there? Easy, peasy. Late dinners & routine out the window? Bring it. You are one helluva laid-back, go-with-the-flow chick! Where’d you get that? Not from me. It took your mama years and years to be less up-tight and more flow-y (and I’m still pretty darn anal)! That particular gene must've come from daddy (we love him).
Which brings us to month seven (heaven). After our return from Chicago, I started feeding you solids—starting with rice cereal, apple sauce, bananas and moving on to oatmeal, vegetables, mixed fruits and meats. You eat like you travel, very well!
You turned your nose up at the whole rolling over (both directions) milestone. Your pediatrician was worried about this at your 6 month well baby visit. She suggested taking you to a “developmentally delayed school”. Crazy lady. The next day, you sat up by yourself. Now you enjoy playing the afternoon away on your mat surrounded by many toys—which allowed mama to look for houses for us to live in in San Antonio (which is where we’ll be for the next five years, starting in June). It also allowed me to search for jobs that I might consider taking.
Your schedule is pretty routine. We wake up around 8 AM & have breakfast. We watch Regis & Kelly at 9, but turn it off if it doesn’t keep mama’s attention. You have a little snack around 11 which gets you nice and sleepy for your nap that lasts anywhere from 15 minutes to (today’s record-breaking) 2 hours! At 1 PM, we have lunch followed by endless playing with toys, books, the dogs… Sometimes we go outside and take a walk, or jog, or return the weed-eater that daddy borrowed. Other times we meet up with friends for late lunches or for picnics in the park. And if you didn’t nap in the morning (or if it was short) you nap in the afternoon around 3-ish? or so. You eat again at 5/6 PM… have a bath at 8 PM (which you have grown to LOVE), last bottle at 8:30 PM and are in bed by 9 PM.
Your personality is developing quite well. If I had to describe you? I’d say that you’re mild-mannered, very happy, laid-back… you’re starting to crack jokes in your very own baby way. You like to laugh and you like to make me laugh. You are pretty out-going. You ham it up whenever people give you attention.
You LOVE the dogs. You and Wally are cultivating a great relationship. He loves to lick up your burps and comes hauling down the stairs when he hears your wet belch! You hold out your arm to pet him and he lets you, even though you tend to tug his whiskers (which he hates). You also love Bert, but after having spent some time with your cousins, Celia, Maggie & Ben, he’s learned that little kids tend to tug & pull and he is a bit more stand-off-ish (but not because he doesn’t love you). On rare occasions, Bert will come over and lick your hand and/or your feet. He is very happy that you aren’t mobile—but that will change pretty soon. You’re already in the crawler’s pose… just can’t seem to coordinate all the movements just yet.
Right now, we’re getting ready to move. The house is in disarray and mama is running around like a chicken with its head cut off. The movers come in just 3 weeks! Mommy is doing her best to procrastinate the inevitable… I've scheduled mucho social engagements for the two of us; Daddy graduated from his residency program last week (but still has to work an additional month… I know). There is so much that goes on in life. Just today, you learned how to make fart noises with your lips! AND? You learned the meaning of the very important word, "no". The story that goes along with that will come later. Laying underneath all of the chaos? a solid foundation: your daddy’s and my love for you!
xo, your mama
