Dear Mack - Month Eleven

Dear Maverick,

This first photo below in this month's newsletter should really include a little cartoon bubble coming out of your mouth with the words "I am Baby Mack, hear me roar!"

Never mind the piece of pizza you somehow managed to place on your head before you did this...You really have turned into quite a chatterbox this past month, and have discovered that your voice has the capability of getting attention. And you love attention. If we are at a restaurant, grocery store or other public place, and the people at the next table are engrossed in their own conversation, you seem to take it as a personal challenge to your cuteness, and begin waging a campaign of saying "hi", smiling, waving and shameless flirting to get them to pay attention to you. It generally works, and then we too get to enjoy conversation with total strangers while we eat or try to go about my daily business. Thank you for that.

At 11 months, you do so many new things so quickly that it's getting hard to keep track. We are working on blowing kisses. You wave. You give kisses and hugs. You laugh when you find something new and interesting in your travels across the floors ... not a big laugh, just a private little chuckle to yourself. You dance when you hear music from anywhere...including television commercials, clanging of silverware in the drawer, your toys and anything that sounds remotely like music. When you really like someone or are trying to be sweet, you offer them your pacifier. I have to assure you that I don't really need a pacifier right now about three times a day, and you always look at me like "Are you sure?" It's really sweet to see you trying to share.

Although you were a early crawler and are unbelievably FAST crawler...

it is becoming increasingly clear however, that among your peers in our circle of friends, you are clearly going to be the last one to walk. I chalk this up to lack of athletic genes from me. However, at this stage I wish that at least you were starting to show signs of being interested in the process. You DO walk behind your walker, cruise around as long as you have something to hold on to and love to push furniture around, but when it comes time to hold my hand and practice traditional walking you drop like a stone on your bottom right to the floor like a sack of potatoes. I lift you up....and down you go. You really are such an efficient (you even crawl for a significant distance BACKWARDS!) and superfast crawler that I wonder when you will have interest in letting go and standing up unassisted. You are steady enough on your feet that I think you COULD walk...but you simply are not interested. I find myself torn between wanting you to hurry up and learn to walk and hoping that you take your time.

Your interest in new foods continues to grow and while that is a great thing overall, it also means that sometimes in a single meal, you will go through multiple courses.

As your personal chef and waiter, it is my job to keep the food coming. I also make largely futile efforts to keep the food out of your hair, but as you can see from the aftermath of one of your meals, many times I am doing well to keep the food out of my hair.

And of course, the 2-3 times daily baths continue as a result.

We celebrated your first Christmas this month and you were unbelievably fun.

You were again a stellar traveller sleeping both directions on the airplane for most of the way and entertaining our seatmates...actually entertaining anyone within about 3 rows in any direction ....with the above mentioned antics the rest of the time. You met so many new people I lost count as well as an arc-full of new animals including dogs, bunnies, horses, deer, zebra and birds.

I was proud (mostly of myself) that you received what I consider an appropriate amount of gifts, though it would have been so easy to "overdo". I was proud of my restraint. As it was we still had a ginormous box that we had to ship home with all your holiday bounty.

We travelled to Provident City, Texas to ring in the new year with some fun friends and stayed in a hotel that was exactly 100 years old...established in 1909. I found that a very neat fact as we rung in 2009. Allright, we were both asleep by 10:30, but the principle of the occasion was still very neat.

You took to the Texas countryside like a champ...sleeping in an antique crib and mostly going with the flow and for the most part you spent every waking minute there being played with, held, and generally catered to in every way imaginable. As the only baby on the scene, you got an enormous amount of attention.

Basically, the drill during our trip was that you would go down for one of your naps, wake up, be fed, changed and generally attended to in all areas of hygiene by me. Then I would hand you directly into the arms of whatever aunt, uncle, child or friend that was standing there waiting. Then you would have at least one, and, at certain moments, up to five adults, kids or animals gathered around you doing all manner of ridiculous thing to entertain you until you started yawning or fussing or otherwise indicating your desire to take nap. Rinse and repeat. Since we got home, it seems as if you have spent a lot of time sitting in our living room, looking around from side to side. I think you are wondering where your entourage went. Like maybe they are hiding. Here are some of my favorite moments:

We had so much fun and it was such a joy to have friends that have only heard of you and tracked your growth through this blog finally get a chance to get to know you and spend time with you. You even went on your first safari!

It was truly a very special time

However, it was very nice to be home. We both missed our own beds and were exhausted from our extended stay. I missed your bed and that your bed is in a different room from my bed. I missed our life and routine in California and I was glad to be home even thought it means wading through the process of missing the family and friends we don't get to see as often as I would like because we live out here. This is the hard part about living with parts of your heart in 2 places. But I think we are blessed to have two places that feel like home. Some people have none at all.

This month has been trying and challenging in many ways, but you make everything so much better. I love trying to teach you how to do things even if you don't always get it (yet). I love to comfort you when you get hurt or just need some snuggling. I love to celebrate with you when you succeed at something you have really been trying to accomplish. Not only do I enjoy every moment with you, but I so look forward to seeing who you will become. I am astounded I had anything to do with making such a wonderful little person.

I can hardly believe in a few short weeks you will be one year old. (and no, the football does not represent the views of the management...but still a cute pic for fans of those people....)

Where has the time gone?

I love you so very, very much,
Mommy