13th Month

Dear Sarah,

This month you took your first steps.

Thank you and good night... What else is there to say? How do you top that?



OK, so there has been a lot of other stuff and it's all pretty incredible. It's just that it's been an avalanche of advancement. Everyday brings something new from you. I can hardly keep up!

When your dad gets home from work every evening, I subject him to a thirty minute high-speed info dump of "What Sarah Did Today".



The exchanges usually go something like this.

Your Dad: So, Sarah, what did you do today?

Me About To Explode With Info About You: Sarah poured half a container of peach yogurt on Sancho's head at lunchtime.

Your Dad: Uhghh...

Me: And then, she hit him between the eyes with her full sippy cup.

YD: (pause)

Me: After that, we went outside and played with chalk. Sarah drew a line. A straight line. With the purple chalk. All by herself.

YD: (opening mouth to talk)

Me: Then, <{rapid fire babble about feats if performed by any other toddler would be considered normal, but if performed by you, must be nothing less than proof of genius}>

YD: (blinking or falling asleep, not sure which)

Me: Then, <{description of every morsel that you consumed followed by a complete breakdown of your diaper contents and their accompanying scents}>

YD: (eyeing his car keys)

Me: And, then...(long pause to ward off dizziness)

YD: (quickly trying to change the subject) Sancho you're all sticky.

Me: Yeah, Sarah poured food. On his head.



So, I'm a little enthusiastic about your progress. Hey, I'm your mom. That's what I'm supposed to do. But really, it is amazing to do things like sit and read a book with you now. It's no longer a one-way interaction. You take part in the reading. You point out objects that you recognize - hair, teeth, bananas, dogs, eyeglasses, bread, balls and balloons, balls and balloons, and balls and balloons.

You are seriously obsessed with balls and balloons. We're trying to encourage this love of yours - especially of balls, because college is expensive and people who are really good at throwing balls, hitting balls and catching balls get to go to college for free and sometimes even make a lot of money after college - money that they spend on vacation homes and retirement funds for their parents. So, your love of balls is great! Just do me a favor, don't get distracted with math and science. They'll never get you the bling that you deserve. Plus, when's the last time that you saw an engineer on a cereal box?



Anyway, I could go on and on about how many new things you're doing, but I won't. I'll just point out the one thing that hasn't changed - you are still a very happy girl, and that is the one thing that I hope never changes.

Love,
your mama