Month 3

Dear Evan,

You started your third month of life by starting daycare. Your dad was out of town that week and leaving you on that first day was hard. That was maybe the longest day at work ever. Miss Elizabeth encouraged me to visit at lunchtime but I knew that was a bad idea. Leaving you once in one day was plenty for me. When I picked you up, you were just chilling in a bouncy chair. You weren't affected by my leaving or my return. Clearly, I'm the emotional one here.

I was so worried in the beginning. You're such a mellow kid so I was worried that they wouldn't like you as much because they don't have to tend to you as much. Or maybe they wouldn't like me and therefore wouldn't like you. Or maybe they wouldn't know how to comfort you when you cried. Or maybe you'd run out of milk. And would they call if you needed me? Would they treat you well and change your diaper when it's wet or dirty? Would they hold you and hug you?

I was just being silly. They take great care of you.

And, they teach you great things at daycare. Like, rolling over, holding your bottle, sitting, standing "on legs" (that's their term but I laugh every time they write it on your My Day sheet because what else would you be standing on??) They read books to you and sing songs. You do crazy things like play at the water table. One day we picked you up and you were covered in some kind of schmutz. Miss Betty said it was bubbles. That day was bubble day. They blew bubbles and you smiled at them. Apparently they also landed on you. I can only imagine the guck that is going to come home on your clothes in the years to come.

I'm happy to be back at work, but I spend every day counting down the hours until I can pick you up. I get so excited for the weekend-- not because I can finally goof off but because I get to goof off with you. Your dad occasionally sends me messages at work like, "When do we get to pick Evan up?" or "I miss Evan." I love that he loves you.

And, hoooo boy, do you love him! You two are so ridiculous; I just have to roll my eyes at you. I can feed you, diaper you, tell you stories, love on you or whatever and get no response. All your dad has to do is walk into the room and suddenly you're all smiles, talking and sticking your tongue out. You two just crack me up.

You've continued to improve on the head holding. We can hold you upright now with very minimal support of your head. Also, when we hold you now, you lay your head on us like, "I love you, Mom" rather than "I'm just a baby and I need you to carry me from point A to point B." I think that's because you have more control of your hands so you use them more like you're hugging now. You're also putting them into your mouth like crazy. Suck, suck, suck. All you ever want to do is sit around and suck on your hands. Sometimes it's your thumb but you're not super good at singling it out so you just stick your whole fist in there. You'll also hold onto a rattle if we put it in your hand. Of course, then you just suck on the rattle or bang yourself in the head with it. I know you're just learning, Buddy, but it's pretty hilarious to watch you sometimes.

And, of course, you're growing. You're weighing in at 15.5 pounds and measuring 24.25 inches long. You have doubled your weight in the past 90 days! You've got rolls on top of rolls and it's adorable. I used to carry you around on one arm like a football but those days are long gone. I'm so glad that you're healthy and happy.

And Buddy, you are so happy. That smiling that you do with Dad? You do it sometimes for me too. I think I've mentioned this before, but weekends are our favorite times. On Saturday and/or Sunday mornings, we wake up and I feed you while Dad brews some coffee. When your belly is full, we'll put you on the Boppy and you'll commence smiling and "talking" and semi-laughing and sticking your tongue out. We drink our coffee and eat our breakfast and make faces at you and sing songs to you. I have to admit, the song we sing is Baby Got Back. I'm not sure how we found out, but on the "uh! double-up, uh! uh!" part, you'll laugh and say "uh! uh!" back to us. It might be the most adorable thing ever. I guess maybe we shouldn't expose you to those lyrics.

Speaking of lyrics, I was walking around with you last week and I wanted to sing you a song but I couldn't think of any lyrics to any song. There are really so many songs that I know from start to finish but I was drawing a blank. The only song I could come up with was Love You Madly by Cake. We love Cake, Buddy. The band and the food. We went to a Cake concert when you were in my belly. So here you go, this month's slide show is an artsy one and Love You Madly is the song.

I love you madly!

Mom