Dear Josephine #3

Dear Josephine,

It’s hard to believe it but it’s now been 8 weeks since you entered the world. There is a saying that “the days are long and the years are fast” when it comes to raising children, and I am starting to understand why that is. For one thing, you have pretty much already doubled your weight from when you were born. You are growing so fast and you have already grown out of the newborn clothes you were wearing in those first few weeks. We sometimes look at photos of you from just a few weeks ago and compare them to you today and though we get a little bit sad about how fleeting some of these moments are, overall we are grateful that you are healthy.

Last I wrote to you, we were about to celebrate Christmas. You had a great day and you really cleaned up! You got a lot of gifts and you saw your whole family, and you got to meet your Aunt Elizabeth. After Christmas, you also met your uncles Jamie and Josef, who flew up to Boston just so they could meet you. Last but not least, you met your great grandmother, my Bubbie, who is 94 years old. She cried when she met you but don’t worry, they were tears of joy. Everyone agrees on one thing: you’re really cute.

My favorite thing that you have started to do recently is play. You have a cool toy where you lay on a mat and listen to songs about animals in the jungle while a giant keyboard lights up. I don’t think there is anything that brings me more joy than watching you marvel at the lights and sounds. You make funny, excited facial expressions and you kick your hands and feet out to dance with the sounds. Sometimes it feels like you are starting to try to talk to us because you make excited little noises when you play these games.

Last night, I started to read to you a little bit more. You still really like to be held, and I thought it was great that whenever I would read a page of the book, I would show you the associated illustration and you would actually crane your neck to get a good look at it. I can already tell that you are a curious person.

For the first time, you are also starting to smile. Most of the time they are short-lived smiles and they are usually while you are dreaming, so we are looking forward to getting more expressions out of you soon. You also acknowledged our dog Jack for the first time. I’m sure at some point you’ll see our cat Zoe. At a bare minimum, she is keeping your stuff warm. She likes to sleep in your crib or on your toys. Maybe she thinks she is the baby.

As usual, your mom does a great job staying on top of everything when it comes to your care. She is very well-prepared with regards to getting you on a good schedule with your sleeping and feeding. It is very obvious to me that she has become even more attached to you with every passing day. I have too.

On that note, I’m starting a new job in the next couple of days. I’m excited about it, but I’m also a little bit sad about it, because it means a lot more of my time will be spent focused on other things. I hope you know that the primary reason I work is for you and to give you a good life and a great future. But I’ll miss being able to spend as much time with you during the day as I have been. Fortunately, I work from home, so I’m sure we’ll still get to play the game and sing the song about the purple monkey in the bubblegum tree during my breaks. That’s my favorite one, but I think your favorite seems to be the elephant song.

Well, that’s all for now. I’ll write you again soon.

Love, 

Dad