little acrobat

you, my little turkey, have become quite the acrobat. i have to keep an eye on you because who knows what death-defying trick you will attempt the INSTANT i look away.
the other day you were sitting on the sofa with the ottoman in front of the cushion that you were sitting on, and i had all kinds of barriers to keep you from doing something dumb.

but you know....you are a kid....and you are MY kid...and you decided to roll sideways then roll OVER and onto the floor in one swift movement. i had only looked away for an instant, and then there you were like a fish out of water face down on the rug...laughing.

tonight, you were in a similar position, but i thought i had you fooled! i had you swaddled in a blanket, with you pillow all around you so that you couldn't possibly roll sideways. but darn it all you think of everything! you pushed with your little legs and you ended doing a COMPLETE backflip in slow motion on the the floor! but i was faster than you this time and i caught you before you fell completely and with my heart racing and i was panting from fear and i picked you up and held you and you LAUGHED AT ME!

silly monkey! you are going to be the death of me, aren't you?

it's funny. i did stuff like that to my mommy (your nana) too. when i was just a little over 1 yrs old and could BARELY walk, i made my way into the bathroom, on top of the potty (which had it's seat up) and i climbed onto the sink and played in the soap and water all over the mirror. your nana always said she had no idea how i did it when i could barely walk, but i suppose i was just as awesome as you.

probably.

you may be awesomer, but...we will find out soon enough! :)

love you.

little cry-baby

hey there goblin. you are sitting in your little jumpy thing that hangs on the door frame crying at me, i think your arm is stuck in the leg-hole and you don't know how to get it back out again. if you are anything like me, you'll get mad enough that you will be able to break your arm free, but i think i want to save you the rage for another day, so i will go and rescue you.

you are welcome.

you, your nana, and i went on our first road-trip together over the weekend. you were such an angel the entire time. the 7 hr drive from home to memphis tn took 14 hours on friday because we ran into some horrible traffic. it was stressful, at best, but you were a champ. you only cried for about an hour out of the 14. and on the way home, you didn't cry at all. just slept. and played.

anytime that we are in the car and you are upset about anything, there is a cd that was given to us by a good friend that you absolutely love. i knew the minute i listened to it the first time that you were going to really like listening to this album, even if i am not that big of a fan. when you were still in my tummy, and i would play a certain song, you would kick and kick inside of my tummy. so i played it over and over and sang it all the time just so i could feel you dancing.

so. when we get in the car, and you are upset, i turn on that cd and immediately, you calm down. i take that back. sometimes it takes a good minute into the song for you to relax, but typically, within the first verse, you start to hum and coo with it and then either fall asleep or just sit there enjoying the song.

you nana says that she wouldn't believe me if she hadn't witnessed it herself the complete calming effect of the song.
it makes me laugh every time.

it's easy to please you, my little girl. and it's become one of my biggest hobbies. i spend most of my days trying to keep you happy. i used to only try to make myself happy. sometimes, i miss that, but...mostly i enjoy your giggles and...well...the silence that comes when you aren't upset anymore!

speaking of which, your arm is stuck again....i better go help you get unstuck.

:)

i love you. even if you are going to be a headache most days!

jovie-bean

i bring you to work with me.
i'm looking into the future and seeing that you have probably heard this story about 18 brazilian times, but...this is the first time i ever tell you this even if chronologically you hear it a different time.

wait...did that make sense?

you suck the time out of my days. thank you for that. work is dumb but you are smart and before i know it, it's time to go home and do more important things. like...watch tv. read books. get mad at the dogs. paint our nails. pick your nose. you know. important things. :)

you have developed this new trick that reminds me of when i was a kid. you suck on the roof of your mouth making this funny grunting noise. you do it constantly. this habit will probably last a week or less until you discover some other new thing that your body can do. when i was a kid, i used to suck on the roof of my mouth, too, but i did it to make my throat look all red and irritated so that your nana would think i was coming down with strep-throat and i could stay home from school. i'm pretty sure that this worked several times, and i can NOT wait until the day that you try to pull this one on me and fail miserably, because i INVENTED IT! you can fool a fool, little birdie!

anyway....back to the point. i bring you to work with me each day and i love that you just sit on my desk in your chair and make tons of noise and giggle and pout and get mad and cry and then sleep and eat just right here beside me. i'm fairly certain that if you were any older you would hate me for how attached i am to you. but since you can't do anything on your own aside from poop and suck on your right big toe, you sort of need me, so it's really a win/win situation. i'll have a love/hate relationship for the day that you don't need me to do EVERYTHING for you anymore. boo on that.

stay little forever, your mommy,
dragon

to my silly jovie-bird

i came up with this idea to write to you at one of your ridiculous 4am feedings last weekend. after you were done eating and fast asleep, i tossed and turned trying to decide how to go about writing to you. should i do it everyday? should i lie and pretend like i did it every day since you were born four months ago? how on earth would i come up with....um...roughly 120 letters to you without getting everything mixed up?! so. i decided to be a little more organic than that. and just...write.

at this moment, i am being a poop mom and i have you swaddled in the living room on the sofa with a bottle propped in your mouth. i'm pretty sure that isn't what the perfect mom would do; prop a bottle up in your mouth and walk off to do other things, but...this is just one example of how i am not going to be the perfect mom. but i'll be the closest thing that you have to being the perfect mom, so...you know...i hope you are prepared for some disappointment! :)

i love you so very much, jovie. when i am not with you, i am thinking about you. i love the way that your vomit mixed with your green poop smells. i think they should bottle it and sell it to those less fortunate...you know....the ones that DON'T have a jovie-bird to inhale 84 times a day.

fun fact: you still stick out your tongue and cross your eyes when the wind blows in your face. some of the other remarkably cute things you did when you were first born, you have grown out of...but i hope for the world's sake, and for your future boyfriends/husband, that you never stop doing that. it's absolutely adorable. and quirky. if you get one trait from me and your dad that i could hope for, it would be quirkiness. people that try too hard are such a bore. and people that are to shy to just....BE...are even MORE boring. so....just do us all a favor and be weird, okay?

it's getting to be about that time of night when i put you on this mat thingy that your nana bought you and we lay in the floor of your room and i read "Green Eggs and Ham" to you. you like it when i do the voices. it makes you kick your feet around and blow bubbles and slobber all over yourself (something you really should stop doing before you end up a teenager interested in boys. ick)

you are a pretty funny infant. i hope you stay that way.

love, your mummy,

dragon