Friday, October 10, 2008

Mia Letter: Six Months


Oh, Sister. What a great month! You are getting so big so fast. I feel like we just brought you home from the hospital last week and here you are SIX MONTHS OLD! How can that be?

I have to admit that you, My Sweet, have made me a fan of babies. I love your Bubba sooooo much. I loved him at six months every bit as much as I love you. The difference is that I was so overwhelmed and exhausted with him that I didn't have the presence of mind (body and soul) to realize what fun it was to have a baby around! I was eager for every developmental milestone for the simple fact that it would relieve me of a duty. I couldn't wait for him to sit up on his own. To say words. To crawl. To walk! I have beautiful memories of holding, play, rocking him but I also remember the dark moodiness that surrounded me in that first year. I regret that I was altered and wish I had known somehow that it didn't have to be so hard!

All that to say that I just simply adore your babiness. Your little rolly polliness! I love cuddling you in the early morning. I love carrying you around (for short periods...you're heavy, girl!). I love playing peek-a-boo with you. I love watching you watch your brother and Daddy wrestle with bated excitement. I love your new 'pat pat' game where you smack your hand down on anything in front of you. I love your throat-ripping skreetches and wide mouthed smiles. I love your drooly face and the fact that you can almost fit your whole fist in your mouth. I even love changing your diapers and cleaning your room! You are just a total joy and I want to really, really, from the bottom of my heart, thank you for being here and for letting me love you.


Now, the big question we get all the time: WHERE DID SHE GET THOSE BLUE EYES? At 6 months you still have bright blue eyes and they are constantly the subject of conversation. Here is the easy answer:

B will stand for Brown eyes which are a Dominant gene. Then b will stand for non-brown eyes which is a recessive gene.

Daddy's Mom [Mor Mor] has the bluest of blue eyes. Her genotype is bb.

Mommy's Dad [Papa Joe] has gorgeous green/hazel eyes. His genotype is also bb.


Since Daddy and Mommy both have brown eyes our genotypes have to be Bb. This is because we both have brown eyes which means we have the dominant brown gene (B). But since we both have one non-brown eyed parent, we also are both carries of the recessive gene (b). Our Punnett squares would look like this:


This means that we had a 25% chance of having a child with double recessive alleles which could only ever be a non-brown eyed gene. It also means that your eyes will probably never be brown. They may not stay as blue as they are (I meet people every week who tell me that their child had blue eyes till they were X many months old). But they will probably never be brown. Maybe you'll keep your sparkly blue eyes? Maybe they'll turn a beautiful hazel color? Whatever color they are - they will be beautiful.

High School Biology lesson for the day - complete.

Milestones. Gosh. You started eating cereal this month. That's been fun. I tried a bottle just a couple of weeks ago (of water) and you suck some but you mostly chew the nipple. After you ate peas a couple of times, you got a bit stopped up. My friend suggested I add EVOO to the mix and that actually worked! Poor baby. Yes, I do make your baby food thanks to my wonderful Magic Bullet blender. Love it. You've done really well with your G Diapers. No major accidents although I will admit that sometimes a poop diaper is a thrity minute ordeal. That's kind of a pain but I sleep better at night knowing that your poop diaper has been flushed down the toilet where it belongs rather than sitting in a landfill waiting to never decompose.

One of my most favorite things is watching you interact with your Bubba. You watch him like he's magical. You burst out into spontaneous laughter when he just enters the room. I've always loved that he's so gentle with you and that he's never once appeared jealous or bitter about a new little person in our home. He smiles with us when you do new tricks. And you should see him at pre-school. When one of us has to bring you to the school for Brody's drop-off or pick-up, he literally stands guard. He will stand between you and anyone that tries come within a foot of you. Then he'll say, "I'll be your hero, Sissy." I love your relationship already! I am so excited to watch it develop. And it's developing so quickly already. And not always for the better. Just today you tried to launch out of my arms to grab a toy he was playing with. He shouted, "NO SISSY! Not in your mouth!". You are so fortunate to have a big brother, Sis. I hope you're each others best friends.

Oh! We put your feet in the water (at the beach) for the first time this month. Just like your brother - you hated it. It was really sweet.

Love you,
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2 comments:

Tessa said...

Seriously, when did you become a science teacher. You really lost me. I have had to take an advil and now I need a nap and maybe some People magazine time.

Landry's eyes were the same dark striking blue until he was a little older than one. Then they changed to the yellow, green cat eye color that he has now. They aren't hazel because they have no brown in them. They are yellow, green with an orange star in the center and they are surrounded by a cornflower blue ring. Sophie's eyes were the dark blue unti she was about one then they turned hazel. They look brown in photos but when you look at them they are a green, gray, brown. My eyes, brown. Just like the crayon. Clay's eyes very light blue and very pretty. Very interesting. You just never know. It is fun to watch.

Chrystal Sturm said...

Genetics was my favorite! For a brief period I even proclaimed my plans be a genetic engineer. Till I figured out there was mathematics involved. No thanks.

You had 50% chance of having a brown eyed child. Clay is bb and you're Bb (Doc has blue eyes, right?). Fascinating. I also have two hair folicles on the second digit of my ring finger. That's a dominant gene too. And my widow's peak is too. I'm full of dominant genes, actually. Go figure.

I love your babies eye balls. And their nose holes and elbows. Kiss them for me.