A Letter To My Son {Month 8}

Precious Little Prince,

I feel like, together, you and I (and your Daddy, of course) have learned a lot in the last eight months. Some things have come with very few hiccups, pretty much anything involving food you mastered quickly and efficiently, while other things, like sleeping through the night, took lots and lots of exhausting practice. Ironically, the thing I have figured out that I didn't realize before is this - 

As a mommy, the majority of the time you have no clue if you are doing a great job or a terrible job until it's too late to do much of anything about it.

This is so hard for me! My entire life I've been given feedback on how I've performed... In school I took a test and received instant feedback, I was given a grade. At my job, in addition to the annual university-wide evaluations we were all given, I met weekly to discuss my plans and projects with my boss. In sports, my coaches either praised me or pushed me to do things differently. You get my drift... But mommies, we don't really get any feedback other than if what we do results in crying or not and even that doesn't necessarily mean that you are doing something right or wrong. 

This is hard and frustrating because as your Mommy, I stress far more than I ever did about anything school, work or sports related. The job of raising you comes with immense responsibility. I want you to have every opportunity available. I want you to be able to dream these big, gigantic, over the top dreams and then go for them with confidence. I want you to be happy. I want you to always know you are loved immensely. I want you to have an adventurous little heart - not afraid, but brave and strong and courageous. I want you to be compassionate and kind. I want you to see the pain of others and allow it to break your heart so that you will be inspired to make change. I want you to know Jesus and seek after His will. I want you to be a really good boyfriend - one that dresses appropriately, has nice manners and takes the girl on a real date. I want you to be one of those people who has never met a stranger. I want you to have fun and laugh a lot. I want you to know that regardless of what is happening in the world, your Mommy and Daddy are ridiculously proud of you. I want you to be a good friend. I want you to always say yes ma'am or sir. I want you to believe you had the best childhood any kid could ever have. The list goes on and on... 

All of that is great in theory, but when you look at it realistically, you see that what stands between you and everything I dream for you is me. See, today you are this little tiny 8 month old ball of clay and it's our responsibility to mold you into the very best you possible. We're supposed to teach you all the little things and all the big things - how to walk, drive a car, lead the next generation of our family... It's a lot. It's overwhelming. It's intimidating. It's intense. 

So, let's just go ahead and rip this bandaid off - Your Daddy and I are going to screw some stuff up. It's inevitable. Matter of fact, we'll probably mess up more than "some stuff." I'm sure there will be times when we get more wrong than we do right BUT we are going to diligently and purposefully cover you from head to toe in prayer. We are going to have full faith that God is going to patch up all our blunders. We are going to know with confidence that He will guide, direct and protect you. And I'm going to spend a lot of time praying you forget my mistakes and only remember that I loved you like crazy. That's the best I have to offer you my Little Prince. 

Precious boy, know that your Momma loves you and has always, even when you were just 8 months old, believed that you could be or do anything that your little heart desires. Dream big sweet son of mine.

All my love,
Momma

Eight Month Milestones:

Eye Color - Hazel. Mainly brown, but with definite gray flecks.

Weight - Heavy. We don't know exactly (Mommy never replaced the battery in the scales since it went out while I was pregnant...) but we are guessing somewhere around 23ish pounds.

Height - Long. 

Clothing - 9 to 12 month clothes.

Nicknames - Little Prince, Coop, Squirmy Worm (because you NEVER stop moving) and Chunky Monkey (for obvious reasons).

Hair - You're hair is growing so much right now. You have this little duck tail that sticks out over your left ear because you seriously need a hair cut. You also have the perfect little storm up front - the widow's peak that runs into your natural part which goes the opposite of your cow lick - hot mess.

Teeth - Your bottom two have pushed all the way through now and we are now working on the top FOUR! At first I feared he was going to be a baby vampire but those middle uppers are finally starting to peak through! To be cutting four teeth at one time, you sure have been a happy camper.

Crawling - Well, it's not conventional crawling but you get where you want to go. You do the hand part right, but you never go all the way onto your knees. Your left leg is kind of in a squat, but your right leg is tucked under and just kind of is always prepared to help get you back into sitting position. I'm not sure why you do it that way but the best I can tell it must hurt your little chubby knees.


Walking - As long as you have one hand on something steady you can cruise. You now pull up on everything - the dishwasher, drawers, coffee table, my pant leg, the shower door - you are pretty unstoppable! I'm betting next month we will officially check walking off the list.

You have the best disposition of any baby I've ever known... You are so stinkin' happy all the time! This month we feel like we are starting to learn who you are - we are getting to see your little personality shine and oh, how it excites us! You smile the biggest smile and it comes so easily and our hearts melt every time we see it. We didn't think it was possible to fall more in love with you, but I think we do, you make us fall just a little bit more than we knew was possible with every big, contagious, joyful smile. Thank you for that sweet boy.

You learned lots of tricks this month - it was like one day you woke up and decided to show us what all you could do! We practiced waving and, well, you are not super interested in waving... so instead we tried giving high fives. You thought high fives were really fun!! The second we put up our hand and ask for a high five you start cheesing... You learned how to give a five in literally one day. So we started practicing clapping (you were still completely unamused by waving, despite my best efforts) and you looked at me and Daddy like we were crazy while we clapped and clapped over the most frivolous things. Then one day, we were standing in front of the mirror and the living room and you saw yourself, smiled really big and started applauding yourself whole heartedly! Crack. Me. Up. Now you clap for yourself often - every time we say "Yay Cooper" or you dump the Easter basket full of plastic eggs or really do anything that you find applause worthy. It's really cute and you know it. Now, Mommy and Daddy are still working the wave and you do it occasionally, but not enough to count.

 More swim lessons and music class - not too much has changed there! Your Daddy dunked you a couple of times and you didn't seem to mind then the next week, I did it and you acted like I was the meanest mommy in the world... I won't be doing that again any time soon. You are still loving music class and I am so sad that we won't get to continue it when we move. Your teacher is so precious and I can tell that you are responding and picking up the things that we do in class. You get so excited when she pulls the drum out and your rhythm, despite the fact that we are your parents, is surprisingly good! Go figure.

You are still talking non-stop. Non. Stop. When real words happen, Daddy and I will never get a word in. Ever. Lately you put one finger in the side of your mouth and then jabber, not real sure what that's about but you do it all the time.

This month you started using a fork much to our surprise... Everywhere we go people warn us that you are going to poke your eye out, but we assure them that you've got it under control because, well, you do! We load it for you and then sit it on your tray and you pick it up and stick it straight in your mouth. You are quite good at it! I swear since we've started the real food you've doubled in size! You don't play around, you eat! I ordered you your first kid's meal this month at Chickfila - you ate all three grilled chicken nuggets, the entire fruit bowl and while Brooks wasn't looking you stole the oranges off his plate! You are a growing boy and we are so impressed with how well you use your little tiny hands. Now if we can just figure out dipping... that's another story!

You had your first injury... You took a dive, head first, straight off the bed at Gabby & Pop's lake house! It was completely my fault - I had picked up the laptop which was about to fall off the bed when I sat you on it, told you "Don't move" and turned to stick the laptop in my bag just as I heard the crash. You had been sitting up so instead of rolling off the bed, you literally nose dived off... and you have the carpet burn on your nose to prove it! I snatched you up so quick and started yelling for your Daddy who came running... Your nose was obviously scraped and you were screaming so hard that your face was bright red. I was so worried I had let you break your perfect little nose, but your daddy assured me you were fine. Once I decided he was probably right, Gabby had to take you in the other room because I started crying and Daddy had to console me! (Mother of the Year, I know...) I eventually got it together and I am quite sure I have never held you tighter. You slept curled up in my death grip arms all night and I cried again the next morning when you sat up and smiled at me with the biggest scabbed nose I've ever seen. Bless your sweet heart.