8 months old

Dear Vivian--

This has been a jam-packed month for you. Not only have you mastered the art of sitting up, you are also trying to crawl. Stop that, would you! Mommy can't run after you AND your brother! Fortunately for me, you are having difficulty with this skill, and usually wind up face planting several times for every inch of forward motion you achieve. Sometimes this pisses you off, but more often you just grunt and try again. You look like an inch worm, and you can move about 1 foot every hour. You do better turning in circles. We all love watching you crawl--even your brother giggles at all your machinations--but, seriously, love-bug, don't get too proficient. We love you just as well when you are sitting still. Remember how much fun it is to just sit up so strong and watch the world go by? Only a month ago, sitting was s0 difficult for you, you were always toppling over and bonking your head. Try and relish this new skill before moving on to the next, k?

Also, this month you learned consonants. You can babble with the best of them now, and babble you do. Lots of DA DA DA BWAH BWAH BLAH and, just yesterday, perhaps in honor of upcoming Valentine's Day, MAMA. I about died. The only thing is, darling girl: perhaps 6:15 am is not the best time to excercise these new-found face muscles.

You are becoming much more definite about the way things work. For example, when your brother snatches aLeggo out of your hand, you no longer simply look around mellowly for something else to chew on--you immediately start crying, a sound that stops even Isaac in his tracks. Pretty soon there are going to be some knock down drag out fights between the two of you, this I know. And you don't like being put down by yourself anymore. That exersaucer that used to keep you entertained while I administered to your brother? You won't be left there anymore. You stick your legs straight out and refuse to put them through the leg holes. Oh--and you hate green beans. You absolutely REFUSE to open your mouth for green beans. I keep telling you, "hey, these are NOT peas", but this doesn't seem to affect your decision.

The other thing you hate, and this one I don't understand, is medicine. Now, Vivi, let me remind you: baby medicine tastes good. The people who make baby medicine fill it full of suger and tons of artificial flavors so it tastes like candy. There is NO REASON to spit it out. Your brother, for example, loves his medicine. He would drink it all day long if he could. (And no, that is not the last time I will compare you to your brother. If you work harder, perhaps next time the comparison will go in your favor.) You have had a terrible cold and cough with accompanying ear infection for a week now and getting tylenol, Triaminic or your antibiotic into you has been quite challenging. So instead of feeling better -- because that is what medicine is for! -- you continue to feel miserable. And you are doing a very good job of making all of us feel your pain.

This weekend we went to Carmel to visit some friends, and despite your illness, you behaved very well in the car. (The same cannot be said for your brother. There, see? In this comparison, you come out the winner!) On the way home, we stopped at the cemetary in Santa Barbara where Tim is buried, so you could meet the man for whom you are named. You would have really liked Tim, and he you. We left him a "rude boy" (some fraternity term for Heinekin), told him we missed him, and went on our way. The world is a much quieter, paler place without him. But I do think you will make up for his loss, in your own way, whatever that is. (No pressure, though!)

Next weekend we are going to Chapel Hill to see your Uncle Chip. He turned 30 on Sunday, so we are all going to surprise him. Your brother is not coming with us, so already you have something you can lord over him for the rest of time. See how good we are to you? The truth is, I can't leave the both of you with your grandparents for 5 days, and you are much easier to handle than your brother. Plus we don't have to buy you a seat. So you win, and get to travel across the country for the 3rd time in your short life. I trust you will bring out your angel behavior and parade it around all weekend. While we are there, we will be meeting baby Kayleigh, who is not even 4 months old. And guess what she can do? SLEEP THRU THE NIGHT. Yes, Vivian, a baby who is not even half your age can sleep thru the night. This leads me to believe that your nightly 4:30 am wake up is not so much a necessity as a habit. So we may have to do some serious breaking of the habit when we get back. Consider yourself warned.

One last thing: you still love your feet. In fact, on our way back from Carmel you were sucking on your feet so much that when I took off your socks, they actually dripped. I am not making that up. You like to sit in your seat with your left leg pointing up at a 90 degree angle. Perhaps you will be a yogi one day. This is also another reason to stop with the crawling. Right now, your feet are pretty clean. But once you start moving around the floor, forget about it. Mama has enough to do without cleaning the damn floors! But you know what? Its actually pretty cute, the feet sucking, as is every! other! little! thing! about you.

You are my little love bucket, my muffin, my Miss Viv, and I love you with every ounce of my soul.