5 more facts

Written when Monroe was 8 months old.

If you read this blog often, you probably read my original 5 facts post several months ago. Well, here are a few more amazing unique things about Monroe.

6. She floats. Okay, this shouldn't be amazing and is certainly not unique given that many, many animals, plants, and substances float. But somehow it still amazes me. Partly I am amazed that she allows herself to float--Monroe is so driven, so persistent, so energetic that she is almost never still, even in her sleep. To see her relaxing in the tub with her daddy with her head and shoulders cradled in his hands or the crook of his hip and the rest of her body just placidly floating out there in the 6-8 inches of bathwater they're enjoying is to see a little daily miracle--my girl, still. Plus, there is the sheer anatomical wonder of her fatness, which is emphasized when she floats because you start seeing all these buoyant parts and thinking stuff like, "my goodness, her fat little knees float!"

7. She knows who we are. Of course she recognizes us, that began even before birth. But I didn't realize what meaning she attached to the terms "mommy" and "daddy" until my mom visited. She kept asking Monroe, "where's mommy?" and Monroe would immediately look directly at me. Then she'd say, "where's daddy?" and she'd whip around and look at Eben. It was amazing!

8. She is wicked strong. People alway comment on this when they let her get her deceptively cute paws on something, thinking they'll let her touch it for a moment and then get it away. HA! She is like a black hole--if something gets close enough, you may never see it again. She can actually lift my laptop computer (you don't want to know how I found this out. Wasn't pretty.)

9. Her laugh is one of the universe's most perfect sounds. It inspires a deep, soul-fulfilling sense of happiness and contentment. Making her laugh engenders a satisfaction that I imagine olympic atheletes have on the podium as they accept their medals or CEOs have on the eve of a great earnings report. But making her laugh is much less of a science than top athletic performance or shrewd business. It's completely trial-and-error, and what cracks her up one night may be looked upon with indifference the next. So we keep actin' goofy.

10. She still smells amazing. (Yes, this was also fact 4...) She smells less like that astonishingly pure, if a bit generic, new baby smell. Instead she smells like an individual, like Monroe. It is amazing to have another person (besides Eben) whose used blankets or worn clothes can trigger such an overwhelming sweep of emotion. This Monroe baby smell is a version of the smell her spouse will someday cherish and that her own children will recognize as mommy. I can't describe it but it's all her own.

5 facts

Written when Monroe was almost 3 months old.

Five unique facts about our little Monroe:

1) She's literally "headstrong," meaning she's very uncomfortable in any situation where she can't turn her head or neck anyway she wishes. In a video taken in the hospital when she was just a few hours old, I remarked on the "power in her neck." And she was able to lift head up while lying on her belly, and even to turn it from side to side when she was just 3 days old. With all this prowess comes a determination to control her head which thwarted every attempt to carry her in a chest-facing baby carrier. Monroe will not be fenced in! Or at least, her head won't!

2) She is the loudest sleeper I've ever had occasion to room with. Whoever coined the phrase, "Sleeping like a baby" had clearly never watched MY baby sleep. Snorts, grunts, farts, sighs, shrieks, cries, slurps, squeaks, and even little sweet smiles all cross her face. It took me weeks to learn to distinguish her run-of-the-mill "asleep sounds" from what I call "the snooze alarm," which is a sharp little "huh" noise that tells me she's going to need to eat soon. It's called the snooze alarm because she kindly gives at least 30 minutes' warning before the first "huh huh huh" and any actual cries, so we get to avoid nightime upsets!

3) Something seriously funky is going on with her hair. She was born with brown hair, which started falling out around week 2, and completely fell out by around week 6.... EXCEPT for a ridiculous ring of hair at the back of her neck. This created a stunning illusion of a balding old man. We waited in vain for the "old man hair" to drop, but instead she started growing new sweet peach fuzz on the top of her head (in approximately the same brown color it seems, so I don't know why the Almighty felt it necessary to send her with a temporary version) and the old man hair is now GROWING. So she is starting to look like a tragically hip balding baby-boomer who makes up for the lack of hair on top by wearing a ponytail in back...

4) She smells amazing. Yes, all babies smell amazing so this is no unique fact and therefore doesn't technically belong on this list. Still, it has to be discussed, so here I am including it. Her natural smell is so precious. At the moment of birth, she smelled salty and faintly sweet, exactly like being out in the middle of the ocean on a small boat and smelling the sea spray in the air. After her first bath and for the first few weeks, she smelled like nothing in this world--I can't describe that smell. It breaks my heart to admit this, but I can't even completely remember that smell... it was so different than anything else that my brain couldn't fully store the information. Now, she smells like a human, which is much more relateable but somewhat less miraculous than her other-worldly newborn smell. But it's a very sweet, clean, precious, cartoon of a baby smell. No grown-up could smell this clean even if they scrubbed for hours in scalding water.

5) Monroe likes to party. Seriously, we've taken her to two parties where we showed up at the invite time and stayed until her bedtime. She quietly, happily mingles with people on one of her parent's shoulders, charming every guest! And as a result of taking in all those new sites, sounds, and smells, she always crashes out afterwards.... partying until she passes out... could this prevision her early twenties? Let's hope not!