April 11, 2009

Dear Bella,

It’s been three months since I last wrote you a letter and you have changed so much.

You’re an active little girl. You can run fast enough to keep up with Primo and his buddies (though it’s still that adorable bouncy, side-to-side baby run that I love) and you love to be chased, climb up on anything and play on the playgrounds in our back yard and in local parks. Thank God you have a little bit of fear so you don’t dive off edges (yet) and wait for me to help you down, which is nice when I’m trying to play with two children at the same time.

You’re a talker! You learn from the best as your brother and I talk all day long. I can’t even count how many words you say, so I’ll attempt to make a list:

Hi
Bye
Mommy
Daddy
Wah Wah (Primo’s name)
Thai
Mathi/Masi (Mavi)
Co-ee (Chloe)
puppy
dog
cat
ooth (earth – sooo cute!)
guy
fidz (fridge)
dis (this?)
dat (that?)
coat
soos (shoes)
sock
foot
knee
eye
nose
eeee (ear)
dzees (cheese)
muk (milk, accompanied by sign but sign is diminishing)
pees (please, accompanied by sign)
ba-ow (ball)
bath
tub
teeth
mouth
bock (block)
buk (book)
up
off (which also means on, open and close)
out
appoo (apple)
appuh (open)
audey (laundry)
dooty (dirty)
mess/messy
pitty (pretty)
You count with Mommy “uh, two, sree, fuh, fuf, sis, setee, it, nie, tie! Yaaayyyyy!” and you always clap for yourself. (In fact, you clap and cheer for me every time I count too!)
bockie (broccoli)
owie/ow
baby
pants
mo (more, with sign)
fow-ah (flower)
bwu-dah (brother)
si-tah (sister)
boy
gool (girl)
pawk (park)
walk
side (slide)
moo
cow
sit (generally when you’re telling me to sit in the lazyboy because you want to nurse)
no (or, rather, NOOOOOOOOOO!)
Nike (which you learned to read off of my t-shirt just today)
sorry – sign only

I’m sure there are more, but that’s what comes to mind for now. Well over 60 words anyway, which is stunning for a 15 month old child, and you’re learning new ones every day. Obviously, you’re completely amazing. As if there were any doubt. You recognize a few numbers (3, 8, 9) and a few letters (o, x, i) and point them out everywhere you see them. Imagine the surprise on the face of the people standing near us in the huge line at Save-On for 15% Tuesday when a baby points up to aisle nine and shouts “Nine! Mommy! Nine!” It was fantastic.

You can point to your head, hair, eyes, ears, mouth, chest, tummy, knees, back, bum, feet, toes, legs, arms, and elbows. Your neck still confuses you and you think it’s your chest, but I don’t think that’s a huge concern at this point. Perhaps there’s a rare condition called “neck displacement disorder?”

Things you love: Primo, Daddy, Mommy, our animal family, Grandma Betty (who you point to on the wall and ask “Please!” on a regular basis), brushing your teeth, climbing up on the big bathroom stool all by yourself, putting your own clothes in the laundry basket, putting your dirty diaper in the garbage, crawling up the stairs and running away so someone will chase you, being chased anytime & anywhere, walking outside, playing in the back yard, playgrounds, rolling the ball back and forth with Mommy, having Daddy all to yourself on Saturday mornings when Primo & Mommy go to his music class, when Daddy comes home from work, when Primo wakes up in the morning, jumping on Primo’s bed, sitting with Primo on the couch to roll around or read books, pretty much anything to do with Primo, and also anything to do with Daddy, cheese, broccoli, dry Nature’s Path corn flakes, dry cheerios, Lara bars, cheddar bunnies, milk, smoothies, nursing, playing peek a boo, rubbing the dogs’ backs, trying to pet Chloe without her swatting you, anything chocolate, anything Primo will share with you, cucumber, carrots, apples, mandarin oranges, mangoes, rice, noodles, feeding Mavi dog food piece by piece, dumping the dogs’ water all over the floor, having a bath, being carried, emulating anything Primo does (good or not-so-good), going to bed (when you’re healthy & your teeth don’t hurt – the rest of the time you just sleep with me)

Things you’re not so fond of: Getting new teeth, bananas (sometimes), avocados, being alone, not having full access to the boobage (you may, in face, go to kindergarten nursing), when someone leaves the house without you, when someone has something you don’t or can’t have – particularly your brother – and you generally just try to take it, being told ‘no,’ waiting, being restrained when you want to run, and not getting your own way.

Hmmm, more and more it seems like you take after your mother. I like to blame it on Grandpa Jack – he was stubborn too. It will serve you well throughout your life, but can certainly make for a parenting challenge. That’s one of many reasons why I am reading so many parenting books about raising sibling without rivalry, raising daughters in the face of worldwide early sexualization and so many more. Like Grandma Betty’s Aunt Elsie once said about me, “No man is ever going to take advantage of you.” You can hold your own with all of Primo’s friends, even when they’re all here at the same time, but you’re still very much a girlie girl who loves her babies and purses.

I can’t describe how wonderful it is to have a daughter to love – someone I can relate to in a very unique way. You are a precious, precious little girl and may you never forget it. Goodness knows you’ll hear it often enough.

Of all the little girls in the whole wide world, I got the very best one.

Love, Mommy
xoxoxo