Dear Claire: 3-Month Update

Dear Claire,

Oh, three months. This was a good month for us. Lots of people told me, “It gets better at three months.” I am so, so pleased to say that they were right. This was the month you started being able to put yourself to sleep (with the help of your paci) and taking naps in your crib (not being held). I think we were both much happier with this arrangement, as you got much better sleep and I was able to spend your naps getting things done (rather than watch marathons of Gilmore Girls, as I had been doing).

You also learned to roll over both ways, this month. You still much prefer to go from your back to your stomach (and usually turning to your left), which means that sometimes you forget that you do actually know how to flip back if you like. Then, you usually get frustrated and sometimes are able to squirm forward a few inches, by pushing your feet against the floor and moving. It’s not crawling yet, but I imagine it isn’t far away. Although your leg strength far surpasses your arm strength, so I wouldn’t be surprised if you skipped the whole crawling thing and went straight to walking!

You also have become a drool factory. You love to put things in your mouth, if only to cover them with saliva. You especially love covering folks’ shoulders in your drool. Your absolute favorite shoulder is your GP’s (my dad). Something about the shoulder turns the drool faucets on full-force!

You also are talking and grunting up a storm. You talk when you’re happy, you grunt when you’re frustrated. And you love when people talk to you—which is probably why you’re so into talking, yourself! You’re free and easy with your smiles, which has helped me and your dad make so many friends out and about. We’ve met more of our neighbors in your four months of life than we did the whole year before you were born. I really think you’re a people-person, which I love because I can see how a simple smile from you can light up someone’s day. You don’t realize it, but you’re already impacting people and leaving the world a better place than you found it. Not many people can say that, Claire!

This month also marked the first time you laughed, although you’re still stingy with them. It came when you were watching me brush my teeth one evening and I spit into the sink. You thought it was the goofiest thing in the world. So of course I did it over and over again to hear that silly, hearty laugh of yours. Even thinking about it makes me smile!

We’re also getting the hang of taking you out and about more often, and I think you’re becoming more flexible in your routine to allow for that. Last week, we took you out to get pizza and you sat happily in your carseat the whole time, just looking around at the sights. Today, we took you to get Mexican and you did great, as well. Sometimes I wonder if some of your fussiness is simply because you’d rather be out and about than cooped up at home with us. (The only drawback to your desire to get outside? We’ve discovered the mosquitoes adore you. Seriously, you have so many big red dots up and down your legs that it makes me feel like a bad parent.)

So things are feeling good. We’re finally to the point where I feel like we have many more good times than bad, although those still do rear up every couple of days or so. (Yesterday was one of those kinds of days.) I really think that once you’re able to move around on your own and get up close and personal with life, you’ll really fall in love with it. Everyone tells me that it gets so much harder because you’ll start getting into everything, but if you’re happy? Well, that makes me happy, too. And as your father would say, “That’s why we don’t have nice things.”

Three months was the best yet. Here’s to more to come!

Love,
Mom

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