We have had the best Fall, little girl. I know this was your first October so you don’t realize this yet, but these past couple weeks have been magic. Going to the park with you and your father, pushing you in a swing between us underneath the golden leaves have been some of the best moments I’ve ever had.
Sometimes I catch sight of you with your father – him holding you at a street festival or sitting with you in his lap, reading you your freight train book – and I have to pause. “Oh, Helena,” I think, “memorize this moment. This is the good stuff right here.”
(Yes, your mother is a sentimental cheeseball, Adelaide.)
I have to hide from you if I want to eat a rice cake. If you catch so much as a whiff you want to share it with me (so we do). You are quite insistent and get angry when someone takes away the soggy remains before you feel you are done.
You are so funny, my little love. You’ve mastered waving (technically, it’s backwards, but I hope you never change that) and you understand to unleash your waves when someone says “hi”. The other day, at the park, the little girl in the swing next to you was yelling “High! High!” to her father and you happily obliged with increasingly vigorous, joyful waves.
Speaking of parks, you are starting to crawl around and climb on some of the (lower) equipment (with Mama right next to you and watching). I always scoot you out of the way when the bigger kids come, but you are delighted with your ability to pull to standing on anything you find that’s about a foot off the ground.
You are teething like a champ. You clearly didn’t inherit your tolerance for pain from me, so I’m quite impressed.
My wallet intrigues you quite a bit. It has a snap, a zipper, and these tiny plastic cards to pull out and put back. You will happily play with it for quite a while. Its existence is the only reason I was able to change back out of my swimsuit after swim classes at the Y. I’d hand it to you and you’d amuse yourself while I dried off.
You’ve started going to childcare at the gym while I work out. The very first time you went, you were completely unfazed. The second time, however, there were some tears. The childcare workers there are just fantastic, though, and you love bouncing in their jungle jumper. This last time, you were a little peeved when I came to claim you. Clearly, you thought I could spend more time on the treadmill and leave you to your jumping.
You love making clicking noises with your tongue and are so delighted when someone clicks back at you – they speak your language!
You can crawl so quickly now – it’s like you are running on your hands and knees. These speeds are generally reserved for getting to the cat (or his food).
Speaking of Odie, boy, do you love him! You have just about mastered “gentle pets” and try to hug him whenever he’s near. He’s incredibly patient.