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Sweetest Emmie,

I think you might be the perfect baby. You are so calm, so serene when we go out, taking everything in stride and always quietly observing. People often comment on how observant and “good” you are when we are out. You have watched your mama get several minor procedures, sat through numerous doctor’s appointments, and been dragged all over creation, sometimes for many, many hours. Even when you miss your naps, or only get an abbreviated nap in your car seat, you still are the same happy, sweet baby.

You want to look and look and look, all around you. If I try to nurse you anyplace other than your darkened room, you rarely will eat for very long because you are too interested in everything else. You are an observer, watching people and events solemnly, until something strikes your fancy and you give that deep belly laugh that is relatively rare, but SO delightful.

You’ve charmed strangers on airplanes, in lines and everywhere we go. However, your smiles have to be earned. When you meet someone new or are in a new place, you spend quite a while just watching. Then, after a while, your face might crack into that huge, toothless grin we love so much. You might start flirting with that new person, smiling, then looking away, waiting for them to catch your eye. Seeing your smile never fails to make everyone else smile too.

Your eyes also get quite a few comments (maybe right after your enormous cheeks). They are so blue, a very deep blue, fringed with long, soft eyelashes. But in the right light, you can see a touch of gold creeping into the right eye. It makes me wonder if you might not end up with hazel eyes like your mama.

This month, you’ve started really exploring your world. On your changing table, you will place your tiny hand palm down on the wall next to you and drag it slowly along the textured surface, watching intently as you do so. You’ve begun to reach for toys during tummy time if they are close enough to you and batting at toys that dangle above you, and have begun to bring everything straight to your mouth to figure it out. Daddy tells you that the blue toys taste like blueberry, green like kiwi and purple like grapes, but you might want to take everything he says with a grain of salt.

While you CAN roll over, you rarely do, and usually you are content to get a little help with your rolling (but we are trying to back off and make you do more yourself). Last night was the first time you actually looked at an object and WANTED to get to it badly enough that you moved your body to try to get it. You’ve also started doing little mini sit-ups whenever you are half-reclined, which has made doing some of your torticollis stretches more interesting!

Swaddling continues to be the key for you and your sleep. We even got you to sleep on our laps on a flight from Vegas to Denver with a good swaddle, a Soothie (your favorite pacifier) and some strategic ‘shhhhing’ right in your ear. You slept the entire flight, all through luggage and all the way home. Without a swaddle, your body fights against sleep and no one is very happy (until you collapse in utter exhaustion). Still, even your fussiest time is quite bearable and you can usually be distracted out of it (for now!). Without a swaddle, the surest way for me to get you to close your eyes is to softly kiss your face all over when you are sleepy. It’s one of my very favorite things to do.

The things people comment on the most are: your enormous, delicious cheeks, your blue eyes, your head strength/control, your sweet smile, your shoe-socks/legwarmers and your awesome mullet.

Songs I sing to you: You are my sunshine, my Emmie sunshine/You make me happy, when skies are gray/You’ll always know, dear, how much I love you/Because I’ll tell you every day.

I love you, always and forever,

Your Mama