Dear Lili,
Hello from Maine.
Your father and I got engaged here. We spent our honeymoon here and now we took you here. When you are older you will most likely not appreciate the natural beauty and wonder of this place and will instead blame us for taking you away from your skater boyfriends. For now we are bigger than you. And we are taking advantage.
As I type this I am sitting at a beautiful wooden desk overlooking the lake. You are asleep upstairs in about 200 layers of fleece (’tis the season!). Your father is on a hike in the woods. And I’ve built a fire in the fireplace and am doing my best not to freak out that something bad will happen as I am here all alone with you in the woods. Like we might run out of water. Or the fire will get insane. Or Dad will fall down a mountain. Or… Hey, sue me. I never went to camp. My family was too co-dependent to send me but I did get a Girl Scout badge for good babysitting. So there.
We’ve had a nice family vacation so far. We let you sit on the kitchen floor smashing wooden spoons against pots and pans. We have been on beautiful drives. We read books by the fire. We let you play with all the pinecones and leaves you ever wanted. We went moose hunting. We saw a wild turkey. We saw cows and horses – things you’ve only seen from books on your bookshelf. And we even let you sleep in our bed a few nights despite bashing us in the face with your fists and kicking and twisting around in circles until you fell asleep. I still think your favorite time and maybe mine too was playing outside at the worlds most beautifully, clean and sprawling children’s playground with only a handful of kids and a view of the forest and a beautiful river. This ain’t no Brooklyn kid.
You are doing so much lately. I’m sure it seems boring for everyone else to read but I think it is important that I record it before I forget.
Clapping: the day before yesterday you started to clap. Just like that. We were winding around the roads of Maine looking at horses and cows and making stupid animal sounds like good parents do when they are sleep deprived and have nothing more to talk about.
Yes/No: You are shaking your head yes (and kick your legs at same time) when you like something like…pizza. And you most DEF are shaking your head NO when you do not like something as in oh I don’t know…everything else on the planet to eat including big people food in addition to baby mush. Sigh. Many kind mothers have reached out to me that you will eventually eat and for me not to worry. So until then…
Teeth: You now have 6. Now use them.
Standing: You can pretty much stand on your own when leaning against something. You stand in your crib the minute we put you in and 27 returns to your room later you eventually crash and fall asleep. Sometimes you bust out a downward dog and then get up to a standing position from there which is kind of wild. Soon I will send you to Vancouver to take your Aunt Christine’s yoga classes but for now – you are an inspiration.
CHEESE: Every time Dad and I bring out the camera you make this crazy face where you scrunch up your nose and show all your teeth and squint your eyes. I don’t know who taught you this but I feel it is karmic payback for ruining all the photos my grandmother ever attempted to take of me as she said in each and every one I made funny faces.
Overall you are a joy to be around. You are the light of our lives. Sometimes you are a terror. Since being in Maine we’ve already have three minor (thank god) injuries – one involving a bloody mouth in Walmart (don’t ask), another a lump on your head after falling down on the corner of a metal bookshelf in the local library and the third…I can’t even remember. All I know is you’re leaving blood all over this town.
As a parent I am trying my best and doing my best to remain calm during this bumps and bruises. I know every kids goes through them and this is only the beginning. As one teen Mom told me in the local Maine grocery store here while we were waiting for Dad to emerge, “You think this age is bad! Wait until 2!”
