6 months old

Dearest B.,

You are growing up to be such a fun little boy. Each day you bring a million smiles to my face, and I love spending time with you, even if you wake me up in the middle of the night. I can't get enough squeezes out of you in a day to last me while I'm at work. I always miss you.

You have been reaching so many milestones lately. You are sitting up, rolling all across the floor, I've seen you inch forward a little bit (perhaps getting ready to crawl?), you play with your feet ... a lot, suck on your big toes, you love to eat, but that was no surprise to us since you almost weigh 20 pounds! Your favorite foods are pears, carrots, sweet potatoes, squash, oatmeal, and of course, milk. When you get that hungry face, you look at me like I'm a lamb chop. It makes us laugh!

You love story time. Your favorite book is Tails. We read about stumpy tails, bumpy tails, stringy tails and clingy tails. You also love the Animal Sounds book. I'm sure you laugh as much as Mommy and Daddy sounding like a couple of silly geese as you do the pictures. You also love Dr. Seuss' Alphabet Book. That was my book when I was a baby. Daddy reads his page-a-day golf calendar to you, too (though I think he's about 2 months behind on that one ... oops!).

You put everything in your mouth. Your hands, burp cloths (which is great for us - you wipe your own face), teething rings, your toes, our fingers, anything you find on the floor, and to our horror, you wrapped your mouth around the swing seat at the local park. We have never vacuumed so much in our lives since you've been around.

You love textures. You run your hand on our corduroy couch, on the pillows, you grab the carpet, you play with all your exersaucer toys with such vigor. You like to pull my hair and grab for my bling, you also like smacking your hands on your high chair tray as if to say, "What's the hold up? I'm starving over here!"

You and Daddy are buddies. It is the coolest thing to see your face light up when he walks in the door. You smile and smile, then we look at each other, faces beaming. You give me the same look when I get you out of your crib in the morning. I usually wake up to your babbling, probably talking to the monkeys on your crib bumper, because we all know they have the most profound things to say. I turn the corner in your room, and you see me, as if to say, "How long have you been standing there?" Then most of the time you let out a giggle.

You are the best model. I've always got the camera in your face; thanks for letting me do that. And you smile-smile-SMILE for me. You are a little telephone shy, though. When you are yakking up a storm, I'll put a phone in front of you, and whether it's the shy or the wonder factor, you stay tight-lipped. But you love listening to your grandparents, your great grandmother and your uncle on the phone. I'll probably go through cordless phones like crazy since you slobber all over the ear piece!

You are a delightful baby. You nap well. You sleep fantastically (yep, through the night). You play by yourself well. You travel well. So when you do have an issue, it's easy for us to know. When you get a little cranky or fussy, we definitely know something isn't right. I know we're coming up on teething, and you haven't been a happy camper lately. But in the past couple of weeks, you've only gotten up once in the middle of the night. Thank you for that.

You talk! You've been babbling Mamamamama for a while now, but I love hearing you say "Mama" when I hold you or pick you up. I now know the special feeling Daddy will have when you finally say "Dada," and nothing can prepare him for the warmness he'll feel. You talk to the cats. You get so excited when you see Booty or Gabby, and they've been terrific in letting you pet them. Take it easy on the old girls, though.

You are a healthy baby. Touching wood, you haven't been sick once (well, except for that time Mommy ate Chinese food!). Your clogged ducts cleared up, your eczema is looking great (probably the spring weather helping), your thumb owie where Mommy clipped your nail a little too short healed and you definitely have smooth skin. I think the cloth diapers help, but you've got the softest bottom around. Don't get embarrassed, but it sure is the cutest tushie. Way cuter than any others I've seen.

Your eyes. Where did they come from? Whatever the answer, we'll take 'em. We were confident you'd have brown eyes like the both of us, but somehow these blue-green eyes came out of nowhere. It's a welcome surprise. You wear them well. I hope they stay that way.

I could go on and on, talking a bit about the unpleasant things - the poop, your unhappy crying, your really unhappy crying, the exhaustion and fear of being a parent, the heartache we get when you don't feel well - but I'd rather just tell you how much I love you, how proud I am to have you as my son and how much I'm looking forward to the next 6 months and beyond.

I can't wait to see what's in store for us.

Love and kisses,
Mommy