Quite the Social Butterfly

My dearest sweetheart Kimi,

As you can tell from the time this letter is written, this is long overdue. You are now 6 months and 1 week old and I'm two months behind with my letters to you.

The past two months have gone by so quickly before my eyes that I just never got the chance to sit down to write you a letter.

I seriously cannot believe that you are half a year old already. Where did all that time go? Where is the little peanut that fit in the crook of my arm a few months ago? To me, you are like the little worm in the cocoon that has now turned into a butterfly over night. You are now more beautiful than ever and we enjoy every waking moment with you.

In the past 2 months, you have learned not only to sit up, but you can do it mostly without any assistance. You are quite the miss independent girl because you love doing things on your own and don't like me doing it for you. When you play with your toys like the little piano Daddy gave you, you hate it when I hold your hands to play. You like exploring it for yourself. When I feed you, you want to hold the spoon yourself. I give you your own spoon so that you can try to feed yourself but you get mad when you find out there is no food in your spoon. You are too smart to fool these days. Somehow, you hate diaper changes now no matter what time of day it is. I guess you hate lying down unless you are napping or going to sleep. I do it as quickly as possible and sit you up. You love to sit up and knock down all the little bottles and things on your changing table.

You are also one curious little girl. Your Uncle Andre calls you miss "nosy" because everything around you interests you. You get so distracted so easily these days. Before, no one could distract you when you were drinking milk. Now, it takes you a long time to finish a bottle or even breastfeed unless we are lying down in bed together. Every sound or thing that passes by is of interest to you. I guess you are learning so much about your surroundings and I thank God that you have eyes that can see and ears that can hear. It's a gift that I don't want to take for granted. Some people do not have the luxury to see anything around them nor hear anything at all. You love it when people talk to you, acknowledge you, and pay you attention. You are definitely the social butterfly right now. You get mad when anyone walks away after paying you mind.

You love to coo and baby talk especially when no one is paying you any attention. It is probably your way of calling out to us to mind you. I am trying to teach you sign language so that both of us will be able to communicate earlier. So far, I've tried the milk, food, and more sign. You have not signed back to me yet but sometimes I feel that you are trying to imitate the milk sign whenever I do it and when you see your "milky." I cannot wait for the day when you actually sign back to me :)

I've started to feed you solids since you were about 5 months and a half. I started you on rice cereal since I figured you are asian and will probably tolerate it the most. You did really well since day 1 and love it with milk. By now, you have tried sweet potatoes, apples, butternut squash. You loved the sweet potatoes from day 1 but you definitely hated the butternut squash and bananas. You gagged and spit it out. I guess I will try those another day. As for the apples, yesterday was the first time you tried it. You did not like it at first so I mixed it with milk and brown rice cereal. You loved it and ate a huge heaping of it. You ate it again today and I'm so proud of you.

You have been rolling over from your belly to your back since last month. Daddy and I saw you together when you did it for the first time. We were sooo happy and proud of you. You love turning towards your right side and never do it on your left. Just a few days ago, you did turn from your left side. You seem to favor your left hand for many things though. You hold your spoon with that hand and tend to grab things with your left. You also love sucking the middle and ring finger on your left hand. Daddy and I don't mind if you are a leftie. Although we are both right handed, it wouldn't matter to us if you liked your left. Maybe you will be more artistic and a tad bit smarter. Who really knows??! I think it's too early to tell anyway.

Uncle Tophe came to visit during his spring break. You love him so much and laugh the loudest when he is around. You seem to like boys because they are able to make you smile easily. I'm sure it's because you are with your Daddy all the time and are used to having a man around. It makes me so happy to know that you are so close with your daddy. You are totally a daddy's girl!

We just spent Easter this past Sunday. You did so well during the long 2 hours 1/2 Easter Vigirl Saturday night. We had to go to the long mass because your Auntie Amy got baptized into the Catholic Church. We are soo proud of her. On Easter Sunday, we had brunch at Old Ebbitt's Grill in DC and you got to meet your first furry bunny mascot. You were not afraid at all and touched him yourself. What a cutie you are! We walked around the Tidal Basin and took pictures with the beautiful cherry blossom trees. I cannot wait for you to see the pictures one day. You were so beautiful! Someone passing by even said that you looked like you were freshly picked from the cherry blossom tree :)

I guess I need to stop writing now. I think you may be awake from your nap already. Usually, you just lay in bed smiling, cooing, and playing with your feet until I come get you.

I will really try my best to write you another letter soon.

Your Uncle Soy Sauce and Uncle Pinky are coming to visit this weekend. It will be their first time to meet you since you were born. They are sooo excited. I promise to take lots of pictures.

Till next month my social butterfly.

I love you,

Mommy

My little Angel

Dearest Kiyomi,

It's 10 am on a Sunday morning as I write to you this letter. I was scheduled to go to work but was put on call because they do not need me at work at the moment. I fed you about an hour ago and put you down for your morning nap not too long ago and you are fast asleep like a little angel. I was laying in bed trying to nap but couldn't so I decided to use this little free time to write you a letter.

You are 15 weeks and 6 days today. I seriously cannot believe how fast time has come and gone. You are almost 4 months old. Sometimes I wish I could stop time because I'm afraid you are growing up too quickly. I was talking to your Papi the other day and told him that maybe we should have another baby because I miss the times when you were just newly born. Of course I'm just being silly because I know one baby right now is more than we can handle. I want to enjoy every moment with you and cherish the time we have together. Many people have given me parenting advice but the best one so far is when they tell me to cherish the time with you because you will grow up quickly before my eyes. I take pictures of you constantly because I want to capture every moment. It's almost an addiction. I know you will enjoy looking at them one day.

In that past months, you have changed so much. You used to stare off at the ceiling or lights all the time and would never focus on our faces. Now, not only do you look at us constantly, you smile and coo whenever you see us. One of my favorite things to see is when you hear your Papi's voice, you will look up from whatever you are doing, even nursing, and look at him. You follow his voice constantly. It's sooo cute. You are really the apple of your Daddy's eye.

Right before I was to return to work which was about 3 weeks ago, you were a different baby. You refused to sleep in your bassinet and had to be nursed to go to sleep. Now, you are such an angel and behaved baby. I think you finally found your routine and we know how your clock ticks. You sleep about 10 hours at night and have learned how to soothe yourself to sleep. I would nurse you in bed and put you down in your bassinet after you have eaten. You would look around quietly and play with your fingers...before we know it, you would be fast asleep and will not wake up until 8 or 9 in the morning when your stomach is empty and needs to be fed. You wake up smiling but would start crying if no one comes to get you and feed you. The morning is one of my favorite times of the day because we are so close. I love the stillness of the morning. I feed you in bed and we both just bond together. Then I would change your diaper and we would hang out (read a book, do belly time, or just sit down in the rocker together) for a while until you start yawning and I put you down for your morning nap. The rest of your day follows this way. You eat, have an hour or two of wake time and interact with your Papi and I, then take naps. You like napping in your swing in the afternoons though or in your carseat if we are out and about.

Since I have gone back to work, your Papi has been the one taking good care of you. It was so hard for me initially when I knew I had to go back to work and leave you at home. A week or so before I returned to work, I would just hug you and cry thinking that I had to leave you. I would tell you constantly that you had to be a good girl for your daddy. You may wonder why I have to work while your Papi stays home to take care of you. Our situation is kind of interesting right now. Your Papi does not have legal paper work to work right now and is doing his MBA instead to stay in the US legally. Once I become a US citizen, I can claim him and he can go back to work. I am thankful just to have him by our side regardless of the situation. I actually thank God daily for giving us this great opportunity so that one of us can be home with you while you are so little. My heart would break if I had to leave you in day care or if you had to be watched by a complete stranger. In fact, I believe that having your father take care of you while I work is such a gift. He gets to spend so much time with you and has the opportunity to bond with you like other fathers miss out on. You both have a great bond that hopefully no one can break.

You smile so much, are able to hold up your head on your own, and can sit up like a big girl on your bumbo chair. You are able to hold your little toys (ring of keys, rattle, etc) and throw them around. It is so much fun watching you do this on a daily basis. The funniest thing you do is when you sit on your bumbo chair, you tend to poop. You are such a smart girl. Maybe you think it's your little toilet or something. I'm hoping that this means you will potty train easily. Another thing you love to do now is suck on your fingers. It changes on a weekly basis though. You used to like sucking your left fist. Then you would do your index finger only. Now, you like the middle and ring fingers on your left hand. You do this to soothe yourself. You do suck on the pacifier when we give it to you, but if it falls, you go for your fingers. I guess because your fingers are easily accessible. We are hoping this habit doesn't last though and that you will learn to love your pacifier. People may think we are crazy but it's easier to get rid of a pacifier than your fingers.

I want to tell you how much your Papi and I love you. You are such a gift to us and we thank God every moment for giving us such a beautiful angel. You are the best gift he has given us in 2009. Even though you were not planned and were a surprise, we love you sooo much and are grateful for you.

I must end this letter now...till the next one.

I love you so much baby,

Mommy