Month 9

Dear Shobha,

Usually each month I start right in with how amazed I am at how quickly the time is flying by, then immediately launch into details of all that you’re accomplishing each month.  This month is going to be a little different.  Rest assured, I will still go into detail about all that you’ve accomplished this month, and also rest assured that I’m still amazed at how quickly the time is flying by, but this month I must take a moment to comment on something beyond my normal update.

You see, this month, something monumental happened in this world.  On January 20th a man named Barack Hussein Obama became the first African American to be inaugurated as the President of the United States of America.  You were in your car seat asleep as your father and I drove east on I90 heading home from Grandma and Grandpa’s house while we listened to the inauguration broadcast on the radio.  You slept contentedly while your father and I were moved to tears listening to Mr. Obama give his first speech as the first black President.  I don’t know now what will come of his presidency.  I do know that with his election to the highest office of this nation, a wave of hope swept across not only our own country, but far and wide across this entire world.  Whatever may come of this 44th President of these United States of America, I have a renewed hope that someday a woman will be president, or a gay man or woman will be president, or a non-Christian will be president.  I have a renewed hope that truly all Americans can aspire to the office of president.  And even more important than that, I have a renewed hope and faith that people can join together to effect change in the world.  That, more than any other detail of this presidency, is what is important.

This world we live in can be scary and harsh and bitter at times.  But remember, my daughter, that the power to change the world lies within you.  Your voice could be the voice that rallies a nation.  Your ideas could be the ideas that inspire millions.  Never doubt that just one person can turn the world on its axis.  Mr. Obama did it.  Perhaps someday you will too.  You’ve already upended my entire universe.

Now, without further ado…  Need I go on about how quickly the time is whizzing by?  I would imagine you’ve figured out by now that I’m continuously in awe that Yet Another Month has passed us by.  Nine months ago you were just a teeny little thing, weighing a mere two and a half pounds.  Today, you’re tipping the scales at 16 pounds.  It’s remarkable to me that you sailed through these months with grace and ease and have been nothing but the picture of health and happiness.  Many, many prayers have been answered, that’s for sure. 

Last month you had just figured out how to sit up all by yourself and you were barely able to keep yourself up on your hands and knees.  This month, you’ve decided sitting still is for the birds and you kept practicing at crawling, often going further backwards than anything else, until one day you figured out how to scoot yourself forward on your belly and that was it.  Since then, you’ve been getting faster and faster and stronger and stronger.  You’re now crawling all over the place.  My days of leaving you on your blanket playing are over.  You crawl to me, you crawl to the bookshelves, you crawl to the kitchen.  Alas, just when the world opened up to you through your new-found means of transportation, your father and I went out today and bought baby gates.  Hopefully now at least you won’t crawl right out the front door.

Never one to be content with the status quo, the very day you learned how to lift up off your belly and really crawl forward on your hands and knees, you also decided you’d see what all the fuss is about when it comes to standing.  One minute you were sitting on the floor playing, then next minute you looked up at your toy table, grabbed the edge, and pulled yourself up to standing without any help.  Then you did it again.  And again.  Then tried pulling yourself up in your crib.  Now you’ve even started cruising: holding onto an object, most often the ottoman, and walking along it, usually trying to reach for the television remote control. 

Of course, in order to build up the strength and energy to accomplish all this crawling and pulling up and cruising, you’ve been eating more and more.  For a while there, you were just eating a little bit of solid food at dinner time.  Now, you regularly eat a good amount of solid food at lunch time and again at dinner time.  You still seem to prefer breast feeding over solids, but each week you seem to like your lunch and dinner meals better and better.

Most dear to me though, and the one thing impossible to convey in words or pictures, is your laugh.  This month you’ve been laughing so much more and each time I feel like my heart could burst with joy.  Whenever I hear your laugh, I find myself laughing right along with you, laughing so hard sometimes that it brings tears to my eyes.  My little Shobha, you bring so much sunshine and laughter and joy to my life, I sometimes wonder what I ever did without you.

Love,

Mom