Spica Cast

Dear Baby Princess,

I am both filled with relief and a little heartbroken that you have completely accepted your current situation.

Intellectually I realize that you're a toddler and that you adjust easily to new circumstances.  I understand that you have no capacity to feel sorry for yourself, and that your emotions hinge almost entirely on what has happened within the last 3 minutes.  Still, I can't help being astounded that your sweet, happy, loveable disposition is unchanged even though you are largely immobile and your routine is unrecognizable from what it was two months ago.

Don't get me wrong - you were pretty ticked when you first woke up from the surgery.  And you didn't sleep the first night, which meant Daddy and I didn't sleep, which meant that we were all pretty panicked 24 hours in.  But then, just as with every phase you've gone through so far, you started to figure it out.  We started to figure it out.  And within a few days, you were 100% your old self and ready to have fun wherever you could find it.

And you do have fun every single day, baby girl, which means that the rest of us have fun too.  We've been trying to get you out of the house as much as possible, since you love people-watching.  You can't go to daycare in the cast, so we try to do story hours and walks and anything else where you might encounter other little ones. 

At home, you spend lots of time in your custom chair, and amazing gift from Uncle D, Aunt S, and Cousin J.  You sit there and do your puzzles, or color, or play with your zoo or the many other gifts that keep pouring in (it might as well be your birthday).  You are very, very loved, Baby Princess and everyone worries about you.

Selfishly, I have to admit that I have loved spending all of this time with you.  This is not a practical, long-term way of life; I'm trying to work a full day and take care of you for a full day every single day during the week.  We've been fortunate to have a lot of help from family so that makes it more possible to do the juggling act, and we finally brought in a babysitter for some partial days last week.  Daddy helps a ton too, of course, but he just started a new job last week so his flexibility with work is not as great as mine.  But even though I will be thrilled when you are out of the cast, I will definitely miss spending hours and hours with you every day.  I don't think either of us is really cut out to be at home full time, but my hope is that someday I can work part time and spend at least a little more time with you every day. 

Right now, I am fascinated with watching your language develop.  Many of your words sound like "firefly," so when we want to impress people we tell you to say "firefly."  But there are other words you repeat amazingly well, and still others that you convert into your own language.  "All d" is all done.  "Wawa" is water.  "Ma" is pacifier. (?)  And the really fun thing is that you've progressed beyond repeating things to initiating mini-conversations.  Even if it's just saying "hi" to everyone in the room, or asking for water, or saying "bye bye," I am just amazed every time you figure out the context of a situation and respond accordingly.

So much more to say, Baby Princess, but I'm so "sheepy" right now that I'm going to close here.  Can't wait to see your sweet face again in the morning.

Love,

Mommy