Dear Matthew,

We are counting down the days to your first Christmas and we can’t wait. You are growing so fast every day that your baba and I comment to each other how little and big you are all at once.

This past month has been action-packed for you! Not too long after your 4 month well-baby visit, I took you to get allergy testing done and we thought we were in the clear! But then we found some other indications that you might be allergic to something I am eating that you’d be getting via breastmilk, and so now I am not eating anything with dairy in it - we suspect you might have a cows milk protein sensitivity. We are still working with the doctor to figure out what it is that’s causing some unpleasantness in your diapers, and I’m sure we’ll get down to the bottom of it. Ha! Bottom! Anyway, cutting out dairy has been difficult, but nothing too drastic. However, when you’re thirty and presumably no longer sensitive to cows milk protein, you are ordered to take Mama out for ice cream. And lasagna. And tacos with queso fresco. Unfortunately, this sensitivity means we will have to discard or find someone to donate the vast amounts of breastmilk we have stored for you, as at this rate, you won’t be having any dairy until after your birthday. Despite all of this, you are exceeding all weight expectations for babies your age - you are the size of an average 1 year old and in fact, you are now fitting 12 month clothing quite comfortably.

You hold your head up so well now and lunge and twist as if you will turn over… but you haven’t yet. We’re not worried - your weight and heft makes it difficult for you to do so now. It’s okay. You’ve got time. You arch your back during diaper changes, and last night when we got you ready for bed, you arched your back up and stood on your toes - a backbend of babysorts! You love standing up on our laps and your legs are so strong. Before too long you will be running around.

You are charming the pants off of everyone you meet. Strangers come up to Mama and Baba all the time and tell us what a cute baby boy we have - and we have to admit, we do. We flew back to Connecticut again to visit Grandma and Great-Grandma Yu for Thanksgiving, and you smiled and cooed and laughed at the flight attendants - and got your very first Southwest wings! You are a frequent flier for sure, and a pro at long-distance travel.

One of your favorite pasttimes now is blowing raspberries. There were a few days this month where you just sat on Mama’s or Baba’s lap and blew raspberries for minutes on end - getting Mama’s and Baba’s hands covered with drool! Every day, you and Baba read books together, take Ava out for a walk and spend time playing. On the weekends when you and Mama hang out while Baba works, we go shopping together (’tis the season!) or, Mama’s favorite, nap together!

I won’t jinx it, but it looks like your napping may be improving, slightly. Ever so slightly. You are the Master of the 45 minute nap - it’s like there’s a little alarm clock buzzing inside of you around the 40 minute mark that wakes you right up at 45 minutes. But for the last few days you’ve lengthened that, which is very nice indeed. We have changed night time routine around a little bit - we do a bath, nursing, book (always Goodnight Moon), and then Mama rocks you to sleep.

You are so lucky to spend your days with Baba - not all babies have that opportunity to do so, and it’s not really common nowadays (although here’s hoping by the time you’re old enough to read these letters things will have changed). Sometimes people make comments to your baba about how he’s babysitting you or how you are adopted because in many ways you resemble me more. It makes the two of us sad and angry that people say such rude things. Know that what they’re saying isn’t insulting you - it’s insulting them. It’s sad that they don’t seem to think that a white man can be the father to a beautiful Chinese boy - and it’s sad that they lack the tact in their upbringing to even say such offensive things to people. My greatest hope for you as your mama is that one day when you are confronted with this, you will be able to be the bigger person and be proud of your rich heritage.

In less than a week, we go to visit your other grandparents and cousins and aunts and uncles. California, here we come!

Love,
Mama

Raspberrying with Mama:

More raspberrying:

Oh, sweetie, you really, really don’t want to pull Baba’s finger.

One of Mama’s favorite pictures:

I’m the King of the World!