Baby Heron,

It's been such an eventful couple of months! You've grown so much, both in size and in personality.

You've had a bunch of "firsts" these past months, of course. You took your first bike ride and seemed to enjoy it! You were in a bit of a crabby mood about the house, but as soon as you sat in that green seat, you calmed down. We rode to the Popeye's for some rice and beans and have been out as a family a few times since. You've also shown us your first dance moves! Often when the iPod is on or a TV show theme song starts up, you do a little bouncing and jiggling. I love your little dancing and can't wait to see what other moves you develop! You're a speedy crawler these days and have started pulling up to a stand as well! You will walk around if I hold your hands, but don't love it. You haven't started "cruising" along furniture yet. You do like to stand up at your brother's breakfast table and eat his leftover cereal. I can see that you try to push off the floor into a stand, but just end up with your diaper in the air and your head toward the floor and don't know where to go from there. You'll figure it out so

Another big first is your first word! You've been stringing together sounds for a while now, but I'm positive that now you give meaning to words you make. It's no surprise to me that your first word, almost two weeks ago, was "mama." You usually say it when I come in to your room in the morning and you exclaim "mama!" or when you're mad and want something. You're also extremely close to saying "more" while you're eating. Between bites you'll tell me "mo mo mo" and I'm working on both saying and signing "more" with you. Your brother is having fun with trying to teach you that, too and when you eat he usually joins us and shows you the sign over and over!

I can now tell that you have favorites! You love to eat, but definitely have some favorite foods. We went out for udon (thick Japanese noodles) one day and I gave you a little piece. You loved it so much and would demand more loudly. I kept the noodles coming and you definitely ate more than I was able to! You're also my spicy little baby. We went out for some Pepper Lunch one day and I ordered a spicy beef and rice dish. It was almost too hot for me, but you were begging me for a bite – craning your neck with your little mouth wide open and screeching at me! – so I let you have a bite. You didn't react like it was too spicy for you, so I gave you more.You gobbled up a ton of spicy rice and it didn't seem to both you at all! You also love Cajun rice and beans, which have a little kick to it.

You have some favorite games and activities now, too. You're starting to get a kick out of Peek-a-Boo and This Little Piggy. You anticipate the "wee wee wee" and I can always get a smile out of you. Your brother loves to do that with you, too! You're enjoying a lot of toys more lately, but your favorite thing to do with them is to thrown them down on the ground! You also love pulling up at the book shelf and yanking every book onto the floor!

You still haven't quite warmed up to Daddy. Sometimes you'll be fine, playing by yourself, and he just has to look at you and you'll burst into tears! He doesn't take it personally anymore, but does look forward to the day that you like being around him! I've run out a few times and left you with him and sometimes that goes pretty well. If I'm not around for a while, I think you just give up and fall asleep. Lately you have liked it if I'm holding you and he tickles you. Finally, Daddy's getting some good smiles out of you (but only if I'm holding you!) You're quite a ticklish little guy and have such a wonderful laugh!

Speaking of your laugh, the thing that's gotten the cutest, biggest laughs out of you is the neighbor's little dog. Our backyard neighbor has a little doxen. She came over to chat once when we were out back and was holding the dog in her arms. For about 30 minutes you would just look at the little dog and crack up. Anything that it did just made you laugh so hard. I loved it! We definitely need to spend some more time around dogs!

We've done a lot since my last letter to you. In the last two months, you've traveled to Hirosaki for the Cherry Blossom Festival, Hachinohe to play at Fantasy Dome, the Statue of Liberty park, you've spent a week at Vacation Bible School either in the nursery or with me working with the 2 and 3 year olds, and you spent almost a week sick with the flu (along with the rest of the family!) We have a big Tokyo trip planned for the next month where you'll meet your Grandma and Grandpa. Then in no time at all, you'll turn 1! We're going to have such a great time and make the most of this last month of you being an infant!

Love Always,

Mommy