Stuff You're Into This Month

Dear Hagen,

At one year and one month, these are the things you really seem to dig:

1) Books with flaps and buttons that make a noise. Heck, any time you can press some kind of electronic button and make something happen, it delights you to no end. When you grab the TV remote and turn the cable box off so the TV starts blaring snow and static at volume 90, I can tell from your face you think it's a win.

2) Hiking.

3) String Cheese.

4) Hiking, while eating string cheese.

5) "Pulling a Hagen" - This is a move you've pulled so often that I've decided to just name it after you. Here's how it goes: As I sit on the ground, minding my own business, you waddle toward me and face plant into my lap. That's when I'm expected to scratch your back until you fall asleep or get bored with it and waddle away again. I think you accidentally fell into my lap once and I made the mistake of giving you a massage, and now you think it's a thing.

6) Yogurt. Most mornings, I give you a container of Chobani yogurt (Chobani, partly because it's yummy, but mostly because that brand comes in a flat wide container so I can give it to you right in the package and don't even have to put it in a separate bowl). You're able to consume an adult serving with a side of graham crackers for dipping, so it's a pretty turnkey situation. Normally what I do is put you in the high chair naked, give you the yogurt and a spoon, and while you're eating, I fill up the bathtub. When you're done, I pluck you out of the high chair and dunk you directly into the tub. Some women in LA will pay a spa good money for the restorative properties of a milk bath. You get it for free four days a week, 'cause your mama's a big fan of shortcuts.

7) Being held. I know, I know. ALL babies love to be held. But not like this. Laney would occasionally want to be put down so she could go eat Play Doh, or memorize the Backyardigans theme song in peace, but not you. At any given moment of the day, I'm either holding you, looking for a place to put you down, listening to you cry because you've been put down, or being chased by you as you do The Frankenstein, demanding to be held.

This cycle can fill a 14-hour day.

Electronics. Dairy Products. Back rubs. Snuggles.

Yep, that pretty much sums it up.

Love,
Mom