Dear Daniel,

You’re going bald on the top of your head, you’re developing a double chin, and your baby acne has come out in full force.  But you’re starting to coo and even smile a time or two!  I’ve had to cut your fingernails three times now and you’re outgrowing some of your newborn outfits.  And at your one-month checkup today, you weighed a whopping 9 pounds, 5 ounces, meaning you’ve gained more than 2 pounds in the last 2 weeks!  I guess Mommy doesn’t have to be too worried about all the spitting up you’re doing—you’re obviously keeping enough down at the moment.

You like eating.  A lot.  You even try to eat Tigger’s nose if he gets too close when you are getting your pictures taken together.  And if Mommy isn’t available when you think she should be, it’s a sad moment indeed.  You get so frustrated trying to find your food source that you push it away with your hands (you’re trying hard to use them, but they get in the way sometimes, too).  And when you do finally find the nummers, you’re so relieved you suck in gulps of air trying to eat too fast.  (This is the cause of a lot of the spitting, I think.)  You just might be all boy!

Everyone says you look just like your daddy.  (He’s still not quite certain whether to take this as a compliment, but I assure him it is.)  The lady at the coffee shop, who doesn’t usually see your daddy and me together (I buy coffee from her, she buys vegetables from your daddy), took one close-up look at your face and said, “Oh, I know who his daddy is!”  People who know us better are just as convinced that you look like your daddy.  And of course, everyone who knew your daddy when he was a baby says you are the spitting image of him.  Sometimes, when you pucker up your face just right and make your cheeks quite chubby, you remind me of the way your uncle Will looked when he was a baby.  And a glimpse of your profile especially during those first weeks, sometimes resembles that of your cousin Sterling.  But you definitely look like your father’s son!

You have a strong little neck, and like to look around during your rare awake times.  You much prefer to be eating or sleeping.  You love being swaddled up, even if you do fight it and try every trick in the book to get out (such as folding up your legs so that the swaddle is loose).  The pacifier is not yet that interesting to you, so you just spit it out.  Bright-colored toys are fascinating, however, and you even tried to hit the ones on your toy gym the other day.

You detest being dressed and undressed.  The only good thing about getting undressed is it means a bath.  And how you adore your baths!  You would soak under that warm water until you were shivering if I let you.  You’re already learning that when I carry you half-naked through the house, it means you can be calm, because bathtime is approaching.  But you still don’t like getting out and getting dressed afterwards!

You strongly dislike being put in the car seat, because you have yet to discover the cause and affect meaning that a drive is ahead.  You adore driving, and it usually puts you to sleep (unless you are simply starving).  You like the singing in church, but when prayer time comes, you wake up and are hungry.  I think it’s just because it is too quiet!  You take your best naps in the middle of the living room of this noisy household.  Sound machine or no, if the noise level in the rest of the house is not constant, that’s when you awake in the midst of your naps.  In this especially, it is quite obvious you are a third child and not a first born.

You’ve caught a bit of the family’s cold, having a stuffy nose the past two weeks.  It’s worst in the early hours of the morning when you’ve been laying down so much.  Your noisy breathing keeps your daddy and me awake sometimes.  But thankfully being held upright helps a lot and you are soon relaxing and breathing more normally.  Thus, you often spend the early hours of the morning around 6 a.m. snuggled up on Mommy’s chest, where you can breathe easier.

Your big sister Ruth declared today that she could be your aunt “for fifty years”.  I explained that actually, she is your sister, and will always be your sister.  She’s now quite proud of that fact.

It’s so fun to watch you grow—literally before our eyes, with the way you’ve been gaining!  We love you so much and are so proud of the big and little strides you are making towards being a grown-up little man.  Thank you for brightening our world with the color blue!

Much love,
your mommy