Dear Oma and Opa Meppen

Dear Oma and Opa,
I’m just writing to tell you all about what a normal day in the life of a three month old is like.

It starts around six in the morning when I decide I’m hungry enough to wake up for some food, but not awake enough to get up for the day. So, I fuss until Mommy comes in and gives me a little something to eat. She’s usually pretty quick about it—I think it’s cus she wants to get back to bed as soon as possible. Then I go back to sleep for a little while; sometimes it’s only for an hour, but it’s not uncommon for me to sleep in past nine!

Then Mommy comes in and I smile really big at her. (I’m a morning person, you know.) She changes my diaper while singing “So fresh and so clean” over and over, which makes me laugh and laugh. Mommy’s really funny—especially in the morning.

After I eat a real breakfast (with lots of noisy gulping) Mommy and I play on our tummies for a little bit. I’m not a huge fan of tummy time, simply because I can’t see as much as when I’m on my back. And I also can’t remember how to roll over, even though I’ve done it before, so I get frustrated really quickly. But Mommy knows that practice makes perfect so she helps me when I get stuck, and I’m always so happy to be on my back again.

I’m getting really good at touching my toes when I’m on my back, and I roll onto my side really well. I like doing that, especially when my favorite giraffe toy is there. I impress Mommy a lot because I can swipe at toys now, and I like to knock my giraffe over. I can also grab things and I bring them to my chest and hug them with both arms. Isn’t that cool of me? I’m a pretty awesome baby—Mommy and Daddy say so all the time. They think I’m especially cool now that I keep myself entertained for longer and longer stretches of time. Very grown up of me, don’t you think?

After Mommy and I play for awhile, Daddy comes home for a tiny bit between jobs (except on Tuesdays and Fridays when he donates plasma…he’s such a good provider.) He plays with me on my favorite blanket while Mommy does dishes or makes the bed. She’s the very image of domesticity; I know, cus I heard Daddy tell her that this morning.

Tummy and blanket time wear me out so I get cranky and have a hard time settling down. But Mommy knows I love to be outside so she puts me in the sling and we walk around the neighborhood. We always make sure to say hi to all of the dogs as we go: there’s the funny Airedale two houses down, and the black and yellow Labradors on the corner (they’re my favorite because they stand up against the fence and give me kisses) and the Labrador and Bassett Hound next door. Mommy says I’ll get to meet Boomer at Christmas, and I’ll probably get lots of doggy kisses, so I can’t wait! Daddy says we would have a dog if we weren’t renting, so I can’t wait until someday when we can have our own house and our own dog.

After our stroll around the neighborhood we go back inside and mommy swaddles me up and feeds me before she puts me down for a good long nap. I can usually be counted on to sleep for a good hour and half or more, so that’s when Mommy really gets down to business. She showers so she feels clean, and then she cleans the house so she really feels clean. A messy house makes Mommy grumpy, and “When Momma ain’t happy, ain’t nobody happy,” right? Occasionally, when I’m really tired, I sleep a little bit longer and Mommy gets to relax. That’s when she watches Gilmore Girls; we don’t get real TV so she just watches the DVDs. She usually tries to eat lunch then, too, but it doesn’t always happen.

After my nap, I’m kind of grumpy. Mommy says I don’t wake up easily, so she’s really good about letting me eat and burp before she tries to change my diaper; otherwise I scream and scream because diaper wipes seem especially cold and cruel when you’ve just woken up. After that Mommy and I go on a long walk in the park. Liberty Park is huge and we take different trails each day, but eventually we always end up at the playground. Mommy says she can’t wait until I’m grown up enough to play in the fountain that shoots up out of the ground. Sometimes we go with Mommy’s friends from church They both have older kids who really like the playground. And of course we stop and say hi to all of the dogs we see—even the annoying, little, yappy ones.

After our walk I’m usually pretty pooped again, but Mommy plays with me a little before we start our nap routine again. She wants to make sure I get a lot of socialization, because, if she learned anything in her family leisure class, it’s that babies learn most from playing with their parents. Sometimes Mommy gives me a bath before my naps, simply because it’s a good time for it. Baths really tucker me out—I think it’s because I’m so tense when I’m in the water. You see, I’m just barely starting to enjoy bath time. I even splashed and laughed in the tub yesterday, which was a surprise for Mommy.

For the past couple weeks Mommy and Daddy have been busy with a temporary job they took on to earn money to replace the clutch in the car. They had to bag and deliver phonebooks. So during my naps Mommy would put the phonebooks in the bags that they would deliver when Daddy got home. At one point, we had over 1,700 phonebooks in our living room! I climbed on top of the books to show Mommy and Daddy how tall I can be.

Now that the job is done, though, Mommy doesn’t remember what she used to do during my second nap of the day. The house is already clean (she got so good at cleaning it thoroughly during my first nap), so she sits and plays Hearts on the computer or reads her cookbooks. Once, she started dinner super early, but then it was cold by the time Daddy got home. And once she made a pretty toy box for me by covering a box with some leftover material from when she and Gramma made curtains. And today she wrote this letter from me to you, but now she’s out of projects again. Do you have any suggestions for what she can do while I’m asleep?

Sometimes, when I wake up, Daddy is home, unless he has to work late. When he is home, he plays with me while Mommy makes dinner. Otherwise I play in my bouncer seat until Daddy gets home and dinner’s ready. Then I play on my blanket while Mommy and Daddy eat. Sometimes I get bored playing by myself, though, so Mommy or Daddy lets me sit on their lap while they eat. I am usually very interested in their food and silverware; I think I’m going to be a good eater when I finally get to try.

Occasionally we don’t eat right when Daddy gets home. Instead, we go to Costco or Walmart for groceries. Mommy and Daddy love Costco because of the samples—especially when they have key lime pie samples. The pie is a little too expensive for us to buy, but it tastes so good! We go at least once a week, cus we go through milk really quickly. Mommy and Daddy drink almost as much milk as me! When we’re feeling very frivolous we’ll spend two dollars so Mommy can get a berry smoothie and Daddy can get a Churro. Mommy craved smoothies all the time when she was pregnant and the craving hasn’t gone away since.

Some evenings we rent a movie from Redbox to watch while I fall asleep. And some nights we go see Gramma and Grampa Gibson so Mommy and Daddy can check their email. And some nights, my favorite nights, we go for another long walk in the park or neighborhood. And then Daddy changes my diaper, and puts on my pajamas, and swaddles me up so Mommy can feed me and put me to bed.

After I go to sleep Mommy and Daddy eat ice cream and go to bed. It’s their special treat to themselves. It’s a good thing they keep track of where ice cream is on sale!

Other important things you should know about me are that I sleep really well now. I go to bed at 9:30 each night and sleep until about 4:00 in the morning when I need a little food to tide me over.

I'm still really tall and skinny. I'm the 50th percentile for my weight, but the 90th for my height! I'm only a tiny bit shorter than my cousin Olivia!

I still eat really often--every two hours--even though my doctor says I could probably go three or four hours. I've gone that long, but two hours suits me well enough.

I can't wait until Christmas when I can show you how strong I am. Look how well I can hold up my head!

I love you lots! Baby Lynny