Dear Elsie,

You are living your fifth month, and it is now The Fall. This is my favorite time of year, perhaps because growing up, my sisters and I had fall birthdays.  I also enjoyed the beginning of school years. I loved getting new school supplies, jackets, and jeans.  The fall is just such a nice time of year here in Mid Missouri, and already the same leaves that were just emerging on the day of your birth are losing their green and will fall from the trees.  You are growing older.

During this month, I've noticed how much your muscle movement in your MOUTH is developing.  You can blow bubbles, buzz your tongue, lick your lips, suck on your lips, smack your lips, manipulate chew toys in your moth, and alter the shape of your mouth to alter the noise your mouth makes.  You are going to talk sooner than your brother, I predict, because he rarely did these things so early.

We started to feed you some baby cereal and I think you actually enjoy the sensation of the spoon better than the act of eating.  That's understandable. You just took to the spoon and sought to hold it for yourself to explore.  This shows me some of your independence, which I do not usually notice as you enjoy company and are so dependent on others for care and entertainment at your young age.

Your brother is still (by the whole) charmed by you and pleasant towards you.  You are his Elsie Buggy, and he tells us when he thinks you need to eat your mommy's milk, when you have pook in your diaper, and when you are happy.  He is generally right in reading your mood and desires!  You both coo and gurgle and laugh with each other and that is just delightful.

I'm struggling to give you the lap time and reading time that I would like.  Know that you don't get as much of this time as your brother had.  It was so important for me to read him several books at increments during the day because I though he might experience language delay being a boy who seemed naturally drawn to mechanics.  I was sort of proving myself as a mom and didn't know exactly what type of balance to achieve.  For you, I see that you are making great eye contact, being perceptive of people's emotions and actions, and you seek to interact with us.  I think you are more naturally drawn to communicate.  You listen to most of the books I read with your brother, and you often try to chew the board books I read you. You become frustrated that I turn the pages at a faster pace than you would like.    However, since I've been a mom to Daniel, I realize that the three or four books we read together each day are probably enough and that you have a smart little brain regardless of what I do.  I realize we'll have plenty of time in the next several years to read and interact and that your brother will be able to read to you, too.

Elsie, you are a VERY TALL baby.  When we are out and I see other cute babies, I often think they are your age when they are really 8 or 10 months old.  You are as tall as they are! Your muscle control and facial expressions also seem more like an older baby than an infant.  However, you are still soft and snuggley and not at all close to crawling, and I know you'll grow into your height one day.  Your mother and father and brother are all quite tall for their age/gender.

I wish I could write you a letter every day, but it is my hope that you'll have the blog posts I write for you and on my personal blog to know me better. It is very difficult for me to keep track of posts on three blogs, and writing is one of my creative outlets and relaxation modes, so please do read and enjoy the posts I write.  Your brother has many more posts than you do simply because he was born before you were.  I had more time with him to spend documenting his weekly adventures.  For you, I have a better camera, which is a plus and advantage to being born into a family with more gizmos!

I wish I could write to you every day and express my love, concern, and hopeful ambitions for your life because one day I know we will disagree and you will feel distant from me. I hope that having this is for you is tangible evidence that I am a real person who loves you and wants a strong and positive relationship with you.  I look forward to being your mother as you grow into an older human being, and I delight in you as a baby.  You are such a clever girl and your heart is so full of joy.  I can tell you will be a charmer because your dad melts whenever you are around.  I can tell that you will be a clown because you and your brother play little jokes on each other and make one another laugh.  I can tell that you are going to play an important and irreplaceable role in my life.

I love you, darling baby girl.
Your Mama