Five months, Baby.

Sweetest little doodlebug,
you are five months old now and grabbing life by the wings—
such an exciting month you’ve had!

I write this from the couch, sipping a cup of green tea from the Miss Piggy mug and gazing out the window at the stirrings of an unexpected spring-blizzard we are being pounded by.
I can't see the color of my car beneath all the fluff and the branches of our front-yard elm look shaky beneath the heaving, heavy weight of white.
Both you and daddy are sleeping…

You turned five months the day after the Spring Equinox, which seems more than appropriate because you have certainly woken up, blossomed if you will, to the world around you.
Strikingly and suddenly so.

A few of the many highlights are as follows:

We went back to work at Windhorse, you and I, where mommy works on special projects and you get to ‘play’ (translate: roll around in the same space) with Zennon, a co-worker’s sweet son who is one month your junior (and a definite candidate for a future prom date). Having someplace to be and a light sense of purpose has been a thrill for both of us.

We all flew to Ohio just last week and you had no trouble with the flight or the travel in general—in fact, you clearly enjoyed the time we spent with family and friends in the midwest and didn’t seem thrown by the time changes at all. You perfected “the Opal show” (a one-man act consisting of full-body wiggles, rolls, squeals, grins and the well-timed blowing of bubbles) and slept better in Ohio than you do at home.

I am dying to talk about your recent developments so let's have at it.

You are so impressively aware of your surroundings! We can no longer nurse in a room where there is even one more person. You are very sensitive to noise and get too distracted trying to orient yourself to voices or other noises that may be in the room.

You reach for everything! And with shocking accuracy! No more talking on the phone or taking a drink of water while holding you unless I want the phone to go in your mouth and a domestic waterfall down the front of my shirt.
The things that are the most mundane and ordinary to me, you see as precious jewels with a soul and a personality. It really is extraordinary how you perceive the inanimate things around you in a way that actually infuses them with new life.

You still study all things with your eyes first, directly followed by the all-knowing, third-eye tongue.
You are so curious about food. You watch Jesse and I eat with edge-of-your-seat attention and seem aware and curious about tastes. You enjoy sucking on apple cores and smelling clementines. I foresee real food in your very-near future. You tried a sippy-cup last week and you approached it with glee and determination. Though most of the milk ended up on your shirt, the prospects are very good.

Your language development has taken a flying leap forward. What used to be mostly random bits and pieces now fits together into make-believe conversation (though to you, I am sure it makes perfect sense). You chat with your stuffed doggie before you drift to sleep with the cadence and inflection of an adult conversation, using coos and squeaks rather than words. Sometimes you even whisper to them as if you have a secret. This is one of the most radically precious situations that I have witnessed in my short adult life. It chokes me up. It makes me want to swoop you up from your crib and hold you tight while I weep into your hair and shout THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!

You indeed have already spoken your first word: Hi Dad. Which comes out in any variation of Hi-Da, A-Da, Dada, or Hi Dad, but it is there and real and crystal clear. Though you say it to me as much as you say it to Jesse as much as the dog, so its meaning may not quite yet be understood.

You reach for your toes every time I change your diaper, but seem keenly more aware of them when they are naked. You do "happy-baby" yoga pose on the changing table which is often accompanied by a sigh of satisfaction and a squeak that is directed toward the butterflies that hang above. (Hey guys, you gotta check this out!)

You currently weigh 14 lbs, 12 oz and have slowed considerably in weight-gain.
You absolutely, positively love the cat and the dog. And it's mutual.

In the midst of having listed all the previous developmental accomplishments, and celebrating each and every one of them, the thing that stands out most for me is generally how wide-awake you are now, living and participating in every moment with heart-melting fortitude and spunk. I can hardly imagine how your conviction will expand when you are mobile and have language! Look out world!!

As my good friend Shauna so aptly put it about her daughter, Hana: "Just when I thought Hana was going through my favorite phase, the next phase happened, and that became my favorite phase!"

Your dad and I are experiencing love that knows no edges or bounds, no beginning, middle or end. Just all. Everywhere. Everything.
This is a mystical thing for you to have inspired as such a tiny human being.

I can hardly wait for what you will present us with next.

xxoo, Mom