Dear Nathalie,

It seems that posting these letters a bit late has become the norm… I was fully aware last weekend that I needed to write this letter to you and publish it LAST Monday, and then I got sick. Three days off work sick. Have not seen you since last Sunday because I don’t want to infect you, sick. However; I did successfully infect Grandfather!

So, last month I promised to update all things Halloween related. Your first attempt at Trick or Treating was a “trunk or treat” shin-dig hosted by a local church in your neighborhood. You were all cute and ready as we walked over to the designated area… carrying your little bucket and my car keys…but then you saw (DUN DUN DUN) the PEOPLE!

Yeah…you had to be forced to take candy from strangers.

Beyond Halloween… a few changes have taken place around you.  Daddy got a new job!!  He gets to hang out with you on Wednesdays (YAY!), but he has to work on Saturdays (BOO).  Grandfather got a new job too!!  He actually has to work ALL of the weekdays…and misses being available to hang out with you on Fridays when Mummy and Daddy have to work.  However, rumor has it that we both get to hang out with you on Saturdays when Mummy and Daddy both have to work.  WHOO HOO!!  Not that we can’t hang out with you on days that your parents aren’t working, but this is about the new changes in the work and childcare routine.

Thanksgiving was a thing.  You went to two celebrations, one on Thanksgiving day for your Lovitt clan and one on the following Sunday for the Giles clan.  I am pretty sure based on the reports of who else has come down sick that the Lovitt clan is where I picked up THE SICKNESS.  Anyway, you are not in a place where food is a big deal to you…you barely touched food at either of these dinners.  You did not really want to play with your cousins much either.  I even made an effort to take you outside at Gramma Lois and Grampa Jack’s house to let you run around with all of your cousins, and you wanted none of it.  While outside, you insisted on being carried around by me or your cousin Jordan.  Seriously child…what the what?!?!?

Nothing of much interest happened at the Giles turkey dinner other than it will forever be remembered as the year without mashed potatoes… BUT there was LOTS of wine and card games!  There was a heated argument about whether or not men should put the toilet seat down…your Mummy defended women like a WARRIOR!  Oh, and there was a distant future plan about carrying on the middle name.  Mine is Rana, Mummy’s is Renae, and yours being Rhenae… all pronounced the same.  Don’t worry, should you have a girl child, we came up with enough spellings for the next several generations.

I sent a picture of you with Grandfather, taken at the Lovitt turkey dinner, to Aunt Pixie… she thinks you are starting to look like your Mummy again.  You do morph in and out of who you look like and right now you are entering into a looking more like Mummy phase.  It’s all good…you look adorable regardless of who your looks favor.

So, for the record, Christmas is coming.  Grandmother Cristine has already sent a present to you, and it is at my house!  You are going to LOVE IT!!! It is very wonderful.  You should send her a thank you note…I have seen that you have discovered crayons, you could scribble something for her.

The gifts from Grandfather and me will not be quite as elaborate…I have decided that your parents can spoil you with gifts…I will continue to spoil my own children, even though they are grown-ups…because grown-ups like presents too.

Oh, as far as your development goes…Ummm I have not noticed much of anything new except you have little fits where you lay on the floor – face down… nose on the floor face down…for a brief moment and then get over whatever feeling you are having.  No biggie, you are still cute.

That is it for now tiny one.  I expect that come time for my next letter – which will likely be a bit tardy as it too would be scheduled right after a holiday – that we will have lots of fun photos and stories to share.

Love you little one… keep on keepin’ on!

Love, GranDawn

Dear Nathalie,

Time keeps passing by and we are full on into Autumn… my favorite season.  You own BOOTS now!  Not winter boots… fashionable fall weather boots.

You are still not REALLY saying much…in English.  You say things that sound like “Hey” or “Hi”  and then there are all kinds of sounds leaving your mouth but they are not yet making words that we understand.  I am starting to think that you and Whimsy might have a secret language.

You are really figuring out how to climb into things… the toy box… the water bottle package (which is Whimsy’s favorite hiding place).  Climbing over things is good too.  Keeping you quarantined to one space is becoming more challenging.  I really don’t want to purchase baby gates…again.  I prefer force fields, the technology just hasn’t caught up with my preferences yet.  C’mon Elon Musk… you need to get started on the baby accessories!!!  Enough already with the cars and solar roof shingles!!  (Both of which I want and cannot afford)

Moving on….

You are figuring out how to give kisses.  And not the open mouth, and drooly (is that a word?) kind that most babies give… you keep those lips closed and sometimes pucker, but only when you DARN WELL FEEL LIKE IT and that is not often.  Same goes with giving a high five.  You know how… you just don’t appear to be interested in performing on demand.  Which, in the grand scheme of things, this is a good thing but in the world of babies… You are A FREAK  unique.  I swear, I can see the little gears working behind your eyes and you just KNOW I want you to speak to me…anyone really.  You obviously UNDERSTAND words…you just don’t want to use them.

Oh, let us discuss your current hierarchy of people… Mummy is obviously the top dog.  Grandfather may be ahead of Father right now…Recently when Grandfather handed you to Father and went behind a closed door, you exhibited displeasure.  Whimpering… struggling… it was sad…and funny.  I believe Cousin Jenny is next in line – sort of equal to Father since she has you a few days a week.  Then… there is me.  I may even be behind Whimsy.  Heck, I may be behind ALL of the kitties.  Grandfather is of the belief that it is because I have special Grandmother magic that causes you to fall asleep once you spend too much time in my arms.  He thinks you KNOW that I can get you to go to sleep and you don’t WANT to risk that possibility – especially when Grandfather and the kitties are present!

About your education… You still are not wanting to sit down and read with me.  Except recently I received two toy catalogs in the mail and you were sitting on my lap actually looking through them with me.  You even tried to snuggle the stuffed kitties and tigers that were in there.  It was adorable… until….DUN DUN DUN…THE HORRIFIC THING happened.  You were squirming and wanted off of my lap (we were sitting in a comfy chair in the living room) and so I let you wiggle your way down…and (GASP!) I allowed you to slide off and tumble onto the floor!  Like, a WHOLE TWELVE INCHES or something HORRIFIC!  Your little shoulder made an impact with the floor… and (OH THE AGONY) you whined and sorta cried for A WHOLE FEW SECONDS and stood up and started circling the spot on the floor you hit, looking at the spot all angry!  As if:  HOW DARE THE FLOOR BE THERE!  Grandfather WAS NOT PLEASED with GranDawn for ALLOWING YOU TO EXPERIENCE THE PAIN!!!

And yes, this is me mocking Grandfather for his reaction to it all.  Much akin to wanting to call 911 when you were trying to poop.

It may be a good thing that Grandfather and I did not work the same shift when your Mummy was a tot… I am sure he would have had me arrested for child neglect, endangerment… something.  Rest assured… no harm will come to you when Grandfather is on duty.  With me, I will allow you to fall off your bike.  I will let you fall and scrape your knee.  I’ve already let the handle on the See-and-Say pinch your fingers (Muahhhhhahahahaha…Grandfather was not home) and you survived.  I will not allow you to play with knives, the stove, boiling water, rabid animals, strange animals, wild animals, medicine bottles (ahem…not even vitamin bottles), mobile phones, ummmmmm… I will not allow you or force you to interact with strangers, I will always slather you with SPF 100, I won’t let you play in the street or parking lots, I won’t let you go in water deeper than a couple inches and would never leave you alone in water even that shallow at this point.  But the scrapes and pinches and scratches and falls and bumps – Yeah, Imma let you get those. I will apply the ointment and bandages and cold compresses as needed, I might (not likely) even have to take you to get a stitch or two, but I am still gonna let you get minor injuries.  That is how you learn to NOT get them.  And someday… someone is gonna break your heart… but let’s pray for that poor fool right now because God knows between Father, GrandFather, Me and Mummy – that fool better go into witness protection. I would never physically HARM anyone… but ask Mummy and Aunt Pixie… they won’t like me when I’m angry.

Speaking of injuries… not really but this is as close a segue as I’m likely to get… you had your first opportunity to visit someone in the hospital!  Cousin Kimmee had a NASTY kidney infection and they kept her overnight and you were there with many of the people who love her… Party in ER Room 25!!  Yeah, there were way too many of us, but it is our Kimmee, we won’t apologize.

Finally… let’s say a word about the coming holiday.  Halloween.  Yes, you are actually going Trick or Treating… and you are going more than once.  You are going to be a Bunny.  (On the list of things I won’t do… I won’t allow you to eat Halloween candy that has not been thoroughly evaluated for safety…odds are, your parents will eat most of it anyway – so LOTS OF TRICKS FOR YOU!!!)

I think that covers this month…  You rock that Bunny costume Nathalie and I will post pictures of it in the next letter.

Keep being snuggly!

Love, GranDawn

Dear Nathalie,

I realized YESTERDAY that it was the day your letter was due… and I was busy, this is good practice in delayed gratification.  One WHOLE day late.

Anyway, to be direct, I was also perplexed as to what I would write. I have not SEEN many changes or advances in the past month and I was beginning to have a concern… but Mummy and Grandfather saved your sorry ass  little reputation when in a text communication between the two, Mummy shared that you have finally showed a connection between a sound and an action.  Your first official meaningful sound is….drumroll please…..

“TA DA!!!”

Your Mummy and Daddy were playing with Legos (I am hoping you were involved in this play but Mummy always liked building things as a child) and apparantly upon completion of a project they must have made this exclamation of “Ta Da!” –  hence you are now replicating the action and the exclamation.  Grandfather was witness to this when he dropped you off at home today.  Grandfather is very proud.

Grandfather is also convinced that you are quite the smarty pants.  He is easily swayed.  I asked him if he could provide some evidence of this “smarty pants” behavior and at first he came up with things that you mimicked him doing. Mmmmhmmm baby stuff.  Obviously I have higher standards in what I consider to be smarty pants-esque.  Again  your little reputation was spared (a bit) when he shared that you have learned that certain surfaces are not conducive to sliding while you were pushing the tiny garbage can, that I keep next to our bed, across the floor – it would not slide when the flooring was not tile.  So, you quickly evaluated the situation and would pick it up and move it to the next tiled surface.  Perhaps this is a show of intelligence, however; I will reserve judgement until you begin speaking in full sentences.  (Also, Grandfather did not use the words conducive or evaluated in the retelling of this story but I am confident that by the time you read these letters that you will fully comprehend what those words mean)

Oh, okay… I give… You are a smarty pants. I am feeling all superior today because I completed some tasks at work today…budget proposal, finalized a presentation for Saturday.  (Neither of which I did on my own…pardon me while I step down off of my high horse)

Moving on… photos this month are not what they should be, I made the mistaking of trusting that my phone was still backing them up to the cloud the ONE TIME that I did not check before deleting them from my phone and now ALL OF MY PHOTOS FROM THIS MONTH ARE GONE!!!

I had to make due with photos that Mummy sent to me via text and knew I would like because in one of them, you are wearing the new pajamas I bought for you.  In another you are wearing the outfit Mrs. Shelley bought for you (and BUNNY SLIPPERS!) and in the other one you are BRUSHING YOUR TEETH…GranDawn is all about the dental hygiene.  Also, in that same photo with the toothbrush, you SOOOOOO have your Mummy’s feet.

I love you beyond measure NattyBug,

Don’t pay any attention to my snarky earlier self… you are awesome.

Love, GranDawn

Dear Nathalie,

TODAY is the actual day I should be writing this.  YAY Me…for not being tardy.

This month, I actually had quite a bit of time with you.  Your regular care providers had the audacity to either travel out of town for a week or get moderately injured in a golf cart incident.  PRIORITIES PEOPLE!  WE HAVE A BABY TO CONSIDER!!  Anyway, I was able to care for you on several days during my vacation…and yet I did not get that many new photos… but the one I did get is precious:

This past month you have been really developing those walking skills and are working on a slow run… I say slow only because you are tiny and I can catch up to you.

You are eating all kinds of things these days.  Peanut butter is, thus far, okay and I plan to ply you with it whenever possible.

You are primarily a sippy cup user and get a bottle (of water) only at bedtime.

I think I am being redundant – whatevs

The thing that sticks out to me the most is that you are NOT ok with familiar people in unfamiliar places unless it is your CORE people… Mummy, Daddy, Grandfather… and I was not there on those occasions but I heard the stories of how you reacted so let’s pretend that I am on that list.

In the past month, Legendary Pokemon were released into the world and you participated in your first Raid Party with Me, and Mummy and Daddy.  I let you use my Pokemon Go Plus and you really like the lights on it…unfortunately you were not successful in ANY of your attempts at capturing a Pokemon.   Oh, and car seat regulations were ONCE AGAIN updated .

To be honest, this month after your birthday party really flew by and even though I have seen a great deal of you, I feel like you are frozen in time simply further developing your acquired skills.  PLUS, Whimsy Kitty is really capturing most of my attentions these days.  You two are going to grow up together and be great friends…I hope.

So, I will let you (and the rest of the world) move on with life and close by saying that you are such a joy and I love you bunches!

Peace Out Tiny Creature,

GranDawn

Dear Nathalie,

Today is the anniversary, but not of your birth, of your DUE DATE!  I figured if I was going to be late this time, I would be late with a purpose.

LOOK HOW YOU HAVE GROWN!!!

You may not know this, or maybe you do…hard telling what you will know by the time you are able to read and understand these rantings of mine, so moving on…when I learned that the doctors calculated your due date to be the day after my birthday…yes, you were due on July 5th…my heart hurt a little.  I remember growing up with a birthday on the 4th of July…parties were challenging because everyone takes a vacation that week…plus you get the American flag (not that I don’t honor the flag) thrust upon you as a cake or presents.  I have heard from others with birthdays the first week of July and they have shared my sentiment.  So, I prayed HARD that you would not be born that week at all and YIPPEEE!! You were not!  So, here I am a week AFTER your birthday saying Happy FIRST birthday and I am late because you have been celebrating your birthday for over a week!  It began the weekend before with a trip to Ohio to visit your Daddy’s side of your family, then AUNT PIXIE CAME HOME JUST FOR YOUR BIRTHDAY and spent as much time with you as she could…you took to her pretty quickly, almost as if she’d not been gone at all.  That first night when you fell asleep on her I thought she might cry she was so happy.  THEN there was the party for you at your home on the Saturday AFTER your birthday where 35 of your family members witnessed you play with a cake in a baby pool.  It was the best.  BUT that was not all…We visited with Mrs. Jen Babin today and she had a birthday gift for you!!  (And a gift for Whimsy) I believe that today should be the end of it…WHEW…that was a lot of love going around for one tiny person!

Other things of note:  You are definitely walking.  You took your first steps (according to my texts from your Mummy records) on June 9th – and just as I had hoped it was in the presence of your Mummy.

You can climb stairs as if you were doing it since birth.  Going down the stairs is something entirely different.

You had your one year check up and you weigh 18 pounds and I THINK that Mummy said you are 29 inches tall.  Whatever it is, you are at the 25th percentile on the growth chart in both height and weight.  Dr. Bajuyo said that you are a proportionate baby.  A tiny one, but proportionate.

You like spaghetti.

You are no longer on formula.  It’s foods and whole milk for you now kid.

You have many teeth.  You bit my foot today while we were visiting Mrs. Jen, she missed it and kept asking you to do it again while she was watching – yes, she is a very good friend of mine.

You definitely understand what a KITTY is…and will point at one if I ask “Where is the kitty?” – so, I upped my game today and now I am referring to the kitties as Ripper Kitty, Cally Kitty, and Whimsy Kitty.  You may not know your relatives by name but DADGUM you will know the kitties!   Oh, and Whimsy is new this month.  The two of you have an adorable little rivalry going…  there are toys that you actually fight over, and she is a kitten…not a human, you are fighting with a kitten.  AND you seem to understand that Cally gets scolded when she tries to escape out the front door because every time you saw her at the door today you growled and chased her away from the door…Thank YOU!

You like to share all of the things!  When you are not fighting Whimsy, you occasionally offer her your food.  AND you try to play in the kitty water dish…fair is fair.

It’s been a whirlwind kind of month…your Mummy is 21 now which means, she can now drink because you cry.

I kid…you are a pretty good baby, and Mummy isn’t too fond of many things to drink. Perhaps she will take up smoking!  I kid again…she has asthma and frowns upon smoking as a whole.

Ooops, that was a rabbit trail. I’m going to say farewell before I put my foot in my mouth.

I love you little one.  This first year +7 days with you in our lives has been awesome!

Keep on toddlin’

Love, GranDawn

Dear Nathalie,

Your 11th month FLEW by!  I am late (3 days) on writing you once again… for shame.

I forgive me.

You celebrated your first Mother’s Day by coming to church and going to the zoo.  You also accompanied Grandfather when visiting me at work one day and you actually let Miss Julie and Miss Debbie hold you… because they were wearing name badges and you LOVE name badges!

You crack me up with the way that you always have a toy in your hand when you are crawling and how you cannot resist burying your face in something soft and fuzzy.  If we lay your blanket on the floor, you will crawl over to it and rub your face all over it…sort of reminds me of a dog rubbing its body on the carpet after a bath – except cuter.  You even bury your face in our cat, Ripper.  Our other cat, Cally, would claw out your eyes before she allowed that but Ripper will let you do just about anything to him, except try to keep hold of his tail while he is walking away… he reluctantly tried to bite you for that.

Your Daddy bought you a new car for your 11th-month celebration, well he bought it for himself but he is fully resigned to the fact that you will have thoroughly ruined the interior of it by the time you are in kindergarten.

You are continuing to get stronger, you regularly stand up from a squatting position and walk while barely holding furniture.  I am constantly having my phone in camera mode with the expectation that you will take those first steps at any second… but I hope you do that in Mummy’s presence rather than mine.

You are really expanding your diet these days.  Mummy bought Cheerios just for you, and I saw you snatch one of her french fries the other day… having teeth does have it’s rewards.

Your vocabulary has not yet expanded… much to my disappointment.  You seem to be content with getting what you want by smiling, clapping, or opening and closing a hand at something.  Otherwise, you babble the Mum and Da and Ba sounds – oh and growling, you still growl and giggle.  I suppose I should just be patient, you will talk when you want to talk – right now you are all about moving… all over the place… quickly.  Oh, and you really like electrical cords, and outlets, and heating vent hoods… we are trying to get you to understand the word “No” but some people fear the repercussion of you understanding that and then using it against us.  I am not one of those people.  Matter of fact, I actually snapped my fingers and sternly told you “No” the other day and then realized “Crud, I am confusing her with a dog.”  I don’t recall what exactly you were doing but odds are it involved putting something in your mouth.

I think that about covers month 11.  We do have a surprise coming your way next month… someone is making a special trip to come see you for your first birthday.

Until next month, NattyBug (yeah, I have added that to the list of nicknames.  Did I mention that I have called you Chikorita as well?), you keep doing you and working on those leg muscles – perhaps after you start walking you will start talking?

Be sure to practice blowing out candles… or – a candle.

Love, GranDawn

Dear Nathalie,

This month will forever go down as the time that Grandfather yelled at me to call 9-1-1 because you were trying to poop.  Yes, you read that correctly.  Your bowel movement was an emergency situation.   In his defense, you were congested when we took you that day and you DO sound like you are hyperventilating when you are trying to poop, but for those of us who WEREN’T holding you, it did not seem like it quite warranted an ambulance.  It took another episode of your hyperventilating and crying and holding on to my shoulders while bearing down like your life depended on it before that spectacular poop finally appeared…and then, you were a different child.  You went from BLAH and sleepy to WOO HOO!!  LET’S PARTY!!  It’s amazing what a good poop can do for a tiny person.  This has led to the addition of Wellements Baby Move being added to your care arsenal…you seem to like it …even though we gave it to you incorrectly – straight, no chaser.   Apparently, you are supposed to dilute it in 2oz of formula or juice…oops.   Your father must have tried it the same way because he said it made his tongue tingle…but when you realize all of your father’s food allergies and sensitivities, that could have just been a specific to him thing… in the end, you’re still alive, it’s all good.  (Which really could be a motto for parents everywhere.)

During the same weekend, we decided to give you a sippy cup for the first time (at our house) and you REALLY like sippy cups…I am not sure what made it harder to get that thing away from you – the GRIP you had on the handles or the VACUUM created by the force of suction while you tried to inhale the contents – regardless the struggle was REAL!

We had you overnight on a Saturday…big mistake for our Sunday plans.  We apparently didn’t realize that you would be such a Diva in regards to your sleep placement.  Pack& Play be damned!!  It was crib (which we don’t have) or adult human torso for you, nothing else was good enough.  Which meant that your grandparents did not get enough rest to be able to function let alone prepared to BE anyplace other than on the couch in pajamas at 9 am.  This is a wee tad frustrating considering that the Pack&Play was where you slept for most of your life to this point…and I do NOT want to invest in a crib DAGNABIT!

Other things that happened during this time:

You did get to visit your family in Ohio again…Mummy says that you enjoy patting your Grandpa Doug’s belly.

Easter came and went…  you were pretty indifferent to it all, the parents decided against putting a basket together for you (no jelly beans for baby) but Mummy did have THREE cute dresses for you.  One was sparkly, one was frilly, and the other was a bit more casual.  All of them adorable.

You continue to explore new foods.  Sweet potatoes were a hit… real ones, not baby food. One time when we dropped you off to your daddy, Grandfather and I had to leave as your father threatened to feed you a cheese poof called Chester’s Puffcorn because we did not want to be witness to that kind of debauchery. (For future reference, they are delicious)

You are really getting the hang of standing up.  You no longer need assistance to get things out of the toybox at our house… you just zoom-crawl to it and stand up and dig in…you don’t need no stinkin’ grown-ups to help.

You do not like the feel of grass.

You were bitten by one of your kitties (Dash, I think) after you hit her upside the head with a toy phone.  You are less grabby toward kitties now.  The wound quickly healed… we are still watching your psyche.

And finally, I was able to spend some one on one time with you this week.  It was great fun until you needed to poo (yes, that again) it was like trying to talk someone through a labor pain.  Seriously… your distress is heartbreaking and your mummy and daddy are trying to find solutions.  Back in the day (meaning when your mummy was a baby) your mummy had the same kind of problem…not as severe… and her pediatrician had me put Karo syrup in her bottles…  not something I would do these days after knowing what I know now – the Mayo Clinic says:

Not to mention… I theorize that to be the reason your mother has a sugar addiction such a sweet tooth.

I think that covers month number ten… I know that you did not get any Jelly Beans for Easter tiny one and odds are you are heartbroken (not really)… but don’t forget…GranDawn loves jelly beans and she really likes discounted items and the day after Easter… you come see me next year, I will share.

You keep growing teeth, Chikorita, there are lots of foods for you to explore,

Love, GranDawn