Dear Noah - 36 Weeks

Dear Noah,

Hello my little boy with the big personality.

Today you are 36 weeks old - 9 months - you've been outside my body for as long as you were inside.

Where did this month go? You've changed so much that I can hardly keep up with these remarkable milestones that you're reaching and surpassing each day.

This month you've added a new word to your repertoire - "Baba" - which means bottle. We have tried not to use this word with you, constantly correcting ourselves, but you've somehow managed to pick it up anyway. Which means, I'm really going to have to start watching my mouth!

Soon after you spoke that word you said to me one night, "Baba Mama." Wow! A complete sentence!

You're crawling like a mad man now and trying so hard to stand on your chubby little gams. You walk fast if you have a hand or two to hold - doing the "model walk" as G-G calls it - almost stepping on your own feet.

You favourite game now is copycat - having Daddy and I copy your sounds back and forth.

Recently I taught you the joy of using your hand and your voice to make noise...like an Indian (but that's not politically correct to say Indian now, but that's the easiest way to describe it). We catch you sitting up in your crib before or after a nap using your fist to make that cute noise to entertain yourself.

Your demeanor is so loving and joyful. I've never met anyone quite like you my Little Noah, so happy and smily and giggly almost all of the time. Nor have I met anyone who's face lights up quite like yours does when I walk into a room - I know that's bound to change in the years to come!

At your last doctor's appointment you weighed 19 pounds 8 ounces and were 29.5 inches long - a far cry from the 8 pounds 6 ounces and 21.5 inches long you were nine (short) months ago.

You still sleep 12 hours a night (thank you), though with all the chatting and kicking you still do most nights, it's no wonder. You've also blessed us with two one-and-a-half hour naps a day (I love you!).

You eat a lot - I joke soon enough you'll be eating us out of house and home! You love food and this past month we've introduced rice husks (a dissolving cracker of sorts), Cheerios (though these are for babies and have no salt or sugar) and water in a sippy cup. You take quite a lot of pride in yourself for your new-found ability to put food in your own mouth, in your lap and on the floor.

I'll be going back to work soon. The single, non-mother part of me is looking forward to adult conversation and corporate responsibilities. The other (more emotional) part of me will miss you to bits and pieces. I'll miss the big and small parts of being with you day in and day out - the (brief) snuggles we have after a nap, the games we play, the walks together - I'll miss it all. You bring me more joy than you know.

I'm looking forward to this summer - taking you to the cottage; sticking your toes in Georgian Bay and sand in your mouth. It will be exciting to see nature for the second time around through your gorgeous grey-blue-brown eyes...

Love,

Mommy

xoxoxo

PS. You still don't have any teeth yet. I think it's one of the few things that make me believe that you aren't growing up as fast as you are.