9 Months (photos will be delayed due to moving)

Dear Aven,
Yet again I'm writing this letter late, but so much is going on in our lives and I can't wait for you to see our new house! Hopefully we can move in two weeks from now.

This past month was an exponential explosion of new things you started to do. First, you became a waveaholic. Not only do you like to wave at every person, thing, clock, face and tractor, but you often get BOTH hands going, just to make it really clear that you're saying hi or bye. You can click your tongue back at us when we make that sound. You also became much more snuggly with us, and you'll lean in close and rest your head on our necks or shoulders, sometimes only briefly, but it's an incredible feeling. You're pointing with your index finger, and along with that is your new best friend... the Small Hole. I've never seen such a funny fixation... you are OBSESSED with the Small Hole. And they are everywhere... on the backs of remotes and toys (to hids screws), on your bath seat, on my face in the form of a nostril, in the middle of cheerios that you now love to pick up and eat, on the top of your juice bottle, so that you get cross-eyed looking at and touching it while you drink. You just cannot keep that little pointer finger away from small holes... I swear it's like a magnetic force.

You love to pick up little pieces of food now and eat them. When you first started this skill, it was incredibly funny to watch you grasp it and aim for your mouth, but drop it on the way and then look around, bewildered, when you couldn't find it anywhere. But it only took a few days and many cheerios for you to master your new talent.

We celebrated your very first Christmas and it was so much fun to spoil you and try to show you all the exciting and special things about this holiday. I know that next year you'll be able to understand it more and anticipate it, but there's still something meaningful about your first one. I took you to see Santa at the mall, and you were picture-perfect on his knee!

This month I did something drastic to the way I look... I went from having dark brown hair to very light blonde hair, and I was kind of worried that you would be scared or not know me. You absolutely made my day when I came home from the salon, and the first thing you did was reach out and touch my hair and SMILE! It's like you knew, and you were encouraging me that you liked it. You're the best.

Your vocabulary is coming along. You now regularly say mama, dada, baba, nana and sometimes lala. And I SWEAR you said a form of "kitty"... it sounded more like "key-ey", but you were looking at and reaching for one of the cats when you said it, so I'm convinced. Let's get that application to Harvard started, pronto.

Some days I just can't stop squeezing you and plastering your cheeks with kisses. You have the finest set of cheeks I've ever tasted and smelled. I never ever want to forget how delicious they are, even when you're fifteen and covered with pimples. I'll buy you some oxy. Yes, I love you THAT much.

Love,
Mommy
P.S. This month you also learned how to roll a ball back and forth with me on the floor! It's so much fun to sit and play that with you. The first day you learned it, I would ask "are you proud?" everytime you rolled it to me... and every time you would shake your head no!