May 10, 2009

Dear Cole and Owen,

Summer is really picking up here as you enter your seventh month. Granddad has been here for a couple of weeks and has made huge improvements to our garden. And today is Mother's Day. (Editors Note: While indeed this letter was started on Mother's Day, it was finished several days later, thus the late posting. Things have just been, well, busy.) Your dad got me some beautiful flowers, a kind card and a CD of world music that doesn't sing about animals in the zoo, animals on the farm, blowing bubbles or wheels on a bus. He also bought me a sundae with a topping and whipped cream. Lucky me! This is my second Mother's Day as a bona fide mom and it was wonderful to have both of you here with us. With each day that passes I feel as though our family is more and more complete so this was a particularly meaningful Mother's Day for me.

The above photo was taken a couple of months ago by a professional photographer. It is too fabulous not to include in your newsletter this month.

We continue to listen to a lot of Johnny Cash. A couple of months ago I started to sing Swing Low, Sweet Chariot to you. I have always liked that song as it is right in my - very limited - register. I also used to think that it was, "Swing low, swing Cheerio . . ." like the cereal. But, I digress . . . anyway, I have been singing the song to you in the car, when you're fussing, when you're bored, etc. Then I downloaded Johnny Cash singing it. You LOVE him. Perhaps even more than you love me. Now, whenever you're cranky or if you just need a little pick-me-up we listen to the Man in Black crooning and it seems to make everything go okay. It is truly uncanny how fast you mellow out when he starts to sing. He has become a regular fixture at meal times, so much so that I know when I forgot to feed your sister a snack and she's really hungry for dinner when she hears him on the iPod and comes running to her seat. Johnny has gotten us out of a lot of sticky messes. Thank you Johnny.

This month you have begun to move around. Nothing particularly effective or exciting yet but definite movement. Your methods of locomotion are completely different. Cole, you are much closer to a real crawl. You will get up on your hands and knees for a couple of seconds and are starting to rock. You scoot with your hands but you can only go backwards. This means that you end up under a lot of pieces of furniture. You don't seem to mind. Owen, you are a roller. You will roll over and over to try and get to a toy or a new location. You also will roll onto your back and scoot your bum in a bizarre inching motion most closely resembling a crab who has gotten stuck with his shell on top of him. You don't get very far and this frustrates you to no end. Our house is already child proofed so I'm not terribly concerned but it has become disconcerting to find you in different places than where I left you if I happen to leave the room.

Your Grandma and Granddad have been here one right after the other this month. In addition to helping us get a lot of things done (attic clean out, new deck, sand box for Sarah, planting, gardening, nap training, etc) they have also been able to watch you learn and grow over a longer period of time. While I miss their help and a more day-to-day visiting schedule, I think that the part that makes me the most sad about living away from all of your grandparents is that they miss out on so many of the things that you do that I think are simply amazing. I know that we will never have this time with you again and I want to share it with as many people as possible. You are truly growing up so fast and right before our eyes. I think that I am a little more sensitive this month with your sister turning two, but still, it is just going so so fast. Sigh.

I've been taking you more and more places and I have noticed that, sadly, you don't seem fond of nature. You don't particularly like being outside. You don't seem to mind your stroller when we're inside places but when we're out in the big world you get more agitated. It is weird and we will work on it. We did take you to your first art museum - the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston. We completely traumatized all of the docents but we did get to see some beautiful work. You weren't impressed but you did hang in there and for that, I'm proud of you.

You now eat peaches, pears, pineapple, bananas, prunes, applesauce, mango, sweet peas, avocado, green beans, sweet potato, butternut squash, yogurt, oatmeal, teething crackers and Baby Mum Mums. You think that everything is delicious. Seriously, I can't fill you up with food. You just eat and eat and eat and forty minutes go by and I say that's enough. And you still both have your little mouths open and ready for more. It is truly pathetic.

As you begin to barrel through some of the milestones of the first year (babbling, sitting, almost crawling) I think back to when we were watching your sister do many of the same things. With her, I was always waiting for the next thing. When will she crawl? When will she walk? Talk? Run? Get a job? With you guys I feel like I'm more in the moment. I am enjoying each new and different thing that you do for what it is, not as a stepping stone to something else. I think part of it is that it's the second (and third!) time through for us. I also think that we know that this is likely the last times that we will see a baby crawl for the first time. The last time we will help someone learn to use a sippy cup. The last first time in the big bath tub. And because of you two we're able to savor that much more. And we're able to slow down and watch and just enjoy . . . at least until you careen toward the top of the stairs at which point we'll move very fast, I promise you.

Love,
Mama