Letter to my little Violet: 182 (+ 6) days

Dear Violet,

Last Monday was your half-birthday. At six months you are 15 pounds, 25 inches long and a full-fledged baby. One who can roar like a lion, roll to across the playroom in the blink of an eye, and wave hello. Over the past few weeks, you have really blossomed. Where was once a cuddly little baby, there is now a BABY! who MOVES! and SCREECHES! and EATS REAL FOOD!

It’s like you’re a real person or something. 

Your first food was butternut squash. You loved it. You've since had cauliflower, sweet potato, avocado and carrots. 

You have never been a particularly loud baby. You have always loved to watch and let your environment just soak in, but lately that has been changing as well. You are beginning to make all sorts of noise – squawks, roars, grunts. You babble at your toys. You squawk in your carseat. You squeal in delight in the bath and grunt at the dinner table when you’ve finished but the rest of the family has not.

You’ll notice this letter is a bit later than usual; that is because this past week will go down in the Rossini family history books as The Time We Were All Taken Out With The Flu. In fact, on your big day, instead of celebrating with great fanfare (you know, with bites of sweet potatoes and a flurry of photos) you and I spent the better part of the day curled in the fetal position, feverish, shivering and moaning.

But, you know what Violet, even in the midst of your misery; you were still such a happy baby. You spend most of your time smiling or laughing or gurgling with a sort of unyielding delight. You love to be placed on your back with your Sophie the Giraffe above your head, so you can flip, roll and grab it yourself. You love to watch your sisters play, smiling at their antics and laughing at their silly faces.

Lately, your hand-eye coordination has improved exponentially. We would not have know it a few months ago, but it turns out that you are a hand-eye GENIUS. I brag about it all the time. You can grab your toes! You can splash water! You can turn the pages in board books! You can practically feed yourself! Your father, sisters and I delight in watching you grow and learn and change. I think I can speak for all of us when I say we could have never imagined that having you would bring us so much joy.

Sometimes I pick you up, shower you with kisses and exclaim I LOVE THIS GIRL! And it feels like I just cannot contain it, like there is love for you popping out of me in twelve direction at once. But, it’s true, sweetheart. It’s true.

I love you more than all the stars in the sky and the water in the ocean.

Love, Momma