Posted by Dear Josephine,
As usual, the last month has seen you change in so many amazing ways. The biggest development is that you seem to be on the cusp of walking. I imagine by the time I write to you again next month that you will have started walking on your own. You are standing up a lot, oftentimes without any assistance, and you are having a lot of fun crawling everywhere and up onto different pieces of furniture where you can. We now have to keep a much closer eye on you! You are very advanced for your age as you seem to be hitting all these major milestones much faster than most babies do.
Our new nanny, Lauren, started a few weeks ago. She is amazing and takes such great care of you when me and your mom are working during the week. She takes you to the park, the library, the mall, and all sorts of places where you seem to enjoy socializing with other little kids. You even had your first playdate with another baby, Eloise, and her nanny. You’ve gone over to her house and she has come over to our house to play with you. You seem to be very social and you like playing with other kids. You especially love watching bigger kids play when we take you to the park.
At the beginning of this month, your mom had to go on her first work trip since you were born. The thought of being away from you was very hard on her and she cried. It was just you and me for a few nights here at home. We had a good time though and we did FaceTime with her in the mornings and at your bath time, and I made sure to keep you in great shape upon her return.
One of the things we did during those few days was take a visit again to visit my grandmother, your great-grandmother. I call her Bubbe. She’s 94 years old now and does not get many opportunities to get out and see people. Her eyes lit up when she saw you and she was raving about your visit for days. It was a little sad to leave. She was crying when we said goodbye and she said something to the effect of “You have no idea how happy you made me.”
We have also continued to take you to your swim lessons. It is good you are learning to swim so early because there are some older kids there who cry the whole time and do not handle it nearly as well as you do. You have started to submerge yourself under the water and to be honest this has been making you a little more upset because it is new for you. I think with time you will get the hang of it though.
I think my favorite thing about spending time with you lately is that whenever you see me as I enter a room, your eyes light up and you smile. A lot of times you will crawl over to me with excitement so that I can pick you up. You do the same when you see your mom. I love that we are all building this intimate relationship together. In fact, the same is even true for Jack and Zoe, the dog and cat. In the mornings, they come to say hi to you when you are in your playpen and you like trying to reach out and touch them.
By the way, you’re not even a year old and you got to see all the Patriots Super Bowl trophies. We took you down to Gillette Stadium to watch a Patriots practice. You gave a little bit of a Bill Belichick type face when we took the photo with the trophies. You did not seem super impressed. Maybe it’s because the Celtics already won a championship since you have been born and you have very high expectations.
You have been teething lately and you have two little bottom front teeth now. You enjoy chewing on things. In fact, we caught you in the act of chewing on the cord for the baby monitor by your crib. You looked like a little mouse. Obviously we have now had to move the monitor further away from the crib to protect you from yourself.
Recently, we picked up a running stroller. Since I am training for a marathon, I’m looking forward to taking you out for some runs soon. It might be a nice little thing we get to enjoy together.
Lastly, I just want to say how much of a bubbly personality you have. You love to dance to music, you love to splash water, and you love to laugh and smile. You babble a lot and you are very expressive. I think you are going to continue to become a beautiful and wonderful person. We are enjoying it so much.
Until next time.
Love,
Dad
Jeff Kirchick 