Dear Junior,
At this moment, you are napping peacefully in the big bed, clutching JJ with one arm. JJ is your best stuffie friend these days, though Froggy and the Bunny Blanket are a close second and third. You can go hours on end, roaming around the apartment and playing with various toys, and clinging to JJ with your left hand. (And when we go outdoors, you clutch a yellow highlighter instead.)
Thanksgiving has come and gone. Your Ama and Yeye came to visit, and you've been having a great time with them. Yeye has kept his distance so as to intrigue--rather than scare--you, and you finally are starting to approach him yourself with curiosity. You and Ama are good friends, and you play with her and give her lots of smiles all day long. It's fun to watch you have so much fun with them. Thanks for bringing us together, little one.
You took your first step--and second, and third, and fourth--on Thanksgiving day. You've been getting yourself to a standing position quickly on your own lately, but until Thanksgiving, you hadn't taken any steps. Well done, ducky!
Today you also started feeding yourself yogurt with a spoon at breakfast, and I think I saw you take three real sips from your straw cup! Perhaps Mommy will win in avoiding giving you a sippy cup altogether after all. :)
You continue to eat and eat and eat, though it takes you a long, long time to do so. You love all foods--except corn. You used to eat yellow corn, and now you have decided that you don't like it. But you eat everything else--carrots, peas, green beans, Chinese greens, beef, noodles, chicken, duck, meatballs, avocado, yogurt, cereal,...and fruit. Always lots and lots of fruit. Watermelon seems to be a front runner (that's my girl!), followed by oranges, bananas, apples, Asian pears, grapes, and berries of all sorts. You're eating pretty well.
Daycare transition hasn't been the easiest for you--or for me. It's really hard to leave you every morning, crying. I usually hang out for at least 10-15 minutes and watch you play. And then it's like you know my departure is imminent, and you get super-clingy and start wailing. Breaks my heart every time. I'm glad you love me, as I love you, and I'm even glad that you love me enough to miss me, as I surely miss you. But seeing your weepy face makes my heart so sad. You're in good hands at school, ducky--and you love other children. I can't wait til you love being there full-time.
Work has been going well for Mommy. I absolutely love my job, and while there are a million things to learn, I am slowly absorbing the incredible body of knowledge I need to perform effectively. My colleagues are superb, and the work is super-meaningful. For the first time in my adult life, everything is all in line: I have an incredibly loving and wonderful hobey, a precious and fun and incredible daughter, and a job--THE job--that I love. What a journey it has been, but God spared me a 40-year wandering and made it more like 14 years. I am so deeply grateful when I look back on the journey; surely the winding and uncertain path makes arrival at the destination so much more sweet and triumphant.
The challenge is maintaining a close walk with God in these good days. It's easy to forget God, and to feel as if I don't need Him that badly. But I need Him more than ever. Thankfully the daunting task of parenting keeps me on my knees, but even more than that--I continue to need God for life. You do, too. And we pray for you each day, with you and for you, that you would know how much God loves you, and how He knows you, and how He wants to be known and loved by you. My desire for you to know those things reminds me each day that the same apply to me, too.
Have a good nap, my little. Mommy will be here to play with you when you get up.
Love,
Mommy
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