Dear Hazel,
Today is July 2, 2012. This letter has been a long time coming, but you see, with the remodeling and the move, and all the time spent just adoring you, your parents have been too busy documenting for posterity just how much we’ve been adoring you. Here are some milestones, thoughts, and impressions, we think it’s worthwhile to remember.
-8 months (4/12): We embark on our first family vacation out of the country. We pack extremely light and manage to fit everything into 2 internal frame backpacks, one carry on stroller, and one baby attached to the front of Daddy via the Baby Bjorn. We pack the Ergo carrier in case Mommy needs to carry you at some point too. We join Grandma Lyn in England to visit Great Grandma Joan in sunny beautiful Southern England. On the trip, you manage the time zone like a champ. Mommy stays up with you the first night we arrive because you slept the entire red eye flight, and by the time we arrive at the rental apartment, you want to play until 3 AM. You squeal, play, grin ear to ear, and do the crawl-sit-crawl that you just learned to do. You just learned how to pull yourself up to standing while holding onto someones two fingers. You love love love this trick, and after you pull yourself to standing, shoot us wide grins that show your two little stubby first two bottom teeth. We lap it all up. Great Grandma Joan and Grandma Lyn love it as well. We are trying out Baby Led Weaning, so you eat everything we eat and love it: stinky cheeses that are too pungent for us, risotto, tapas with olive oil and cheese, baguettes, plain yogurt, apples. When we feed you babyfood during a meal where we eat shellfish only, you gag-you literally gag. You spit out your food, puree slowly and dramatically rolling off your tongue and you stare at us with a look of betrayal: what did you just feed me? Mommy and Daddy try not to fall out of our chairs laughing.
-10 months (7/12): You seem to be very adventurous and fearless so far. You dive into the water fountains at the play park, crawl underneath other kids at the mall’s playground, and scramble up in a friction climb up slides with your sweaty little palms and feet.
