Emilia's Journal

Dear Emilia,

We are going to open a frequent flyer membership for you soon, since you have now taken four plane rides in your first seven months of life!

We hadn’t been to Chicago to visit your Uncle Kris and Aunt Andrea for a while, and it happened that the Minnesota Twins were in town to play the Chicago Cubs at Wrigley Field. Would this be your first Twins game, and first Cubs game, rolled in to one? Your mom and I tried to go to Wrigley Field once before, but the game was rained out!

After a completely uneventful trip down to Chicago in which you mostly smiled at everyone sitting around us, Aunt Andrea and Uncle Kris picked us up at the airport, and we headed straight to Portillos. You are much too young for sandwiches, let alone portillos, but you were happy to sleep in the back of the car while we got our food.

The next morning, it looked like rain, and instead of dragging you to the field and risk getting rained on, we decided instead to go to the Art Institute of Chicago to see the new modern wing.

So, we hopped on the L on the brown line for your first train ride. You had a great time looking out the windows.

We went straight to the museum, and checked out the new area. You loved looking at all of the paintings with the crazy shapes and colors (we were in the Modern Wing, after all…)

We couldn’t help but notice a beautiful blue sky, (in contrast to the rain when we left in the morning) and the park was calling. We looked at all of the big buildings…

And all of the small flowers…

Inexplicably, a horde of zombies showed up and you weren’t amused…

We hopped back on the train and went home. You were very impressed with all of the sites and sounds of the big city!

The next day we had a great breakfast at the Southport Grocery. (As you will learn when you are older, the main focus of trips to chicago is food.)

When I think of you on this trip, I will remember how you were so observant! You love to examine things. We’re having so much fun offering you new things to look at and play with.

We can’t wait to take you on trips to show you more of the world!

Love, Dad

Dear Emi-

It seems that we blinked and already you are 6 months. This has brought all sorts of new adventures as you learn to do new things. First off, you have started solid foods (though I am not sure why they call it “solid” when it is basically mush- but it is much more solid than your previous liquid diet). You started out a bit slow at first, spitting more back than you swallowed. With time, however, you became a pro and have showed a preference for orange foods such as sweet potato, squash and carrots. You also love avocado. Here are some pictures of you in your dining finest:Besides trying new foods, you are also trying all sorts of other new things. While you rolled from your front to your back at 11 weeks, you have just begun to roll the other way. This will be helpful when you are ready to crawl!

You are sitting very steady now are are happy to sit and play with toys. You especially like reaching for Yeti whenever she is near you. You also have a very happy scream that you let out whenever you are excited. When you get talkative, you also yell something that sounds like “Hey!” People think you are saying hello to them which makes you seem very advanced for your age.

We have also discovered how much you love swinging. At first you were a little tentative and we only pushed you a little bit, but now you giggle uncontrollably when we give you a hearty push.

You have also started to enjoy bouncing in the jump-up, when before you would just use it to spin.

We just love making you smile and laugh which you do readily with tickles, funny noises, zerbert kisses on your tummy and many other things. The only thing you don’t seem to like is napping. Everyone comments on what a happy baby you are and we can’t agree more. We are having so much fun watching you learn how things work and seeing more of your personality.

Love, Mom

Dear Emilia,

You went to your first wedding on May 24th, for your cousin Angela. You wore this beautiful dress that Grandma and Grandpa C. bought for you in Italy.

Recently, you’ve learned to sit for a little while on the ground, (if we prop you up first), and I knew that there would be a nice place to take a few pictures of you. This one is my favorite picture of you.

It’s hard to understand how quickly you’re growing. These last couple months have been a flurry of activity and new discoveries for you. Before we know it you’ll be walking around and telling us what you think of this world…

Love,
Dad