You scream, and cry piercingly, and I mean SCREAM and CRY in unfamiliar places, especially if someone -who you do not know- notices you and waves hands to you. There is water (or tears) running from your mouth, your nose, and your eyes. You never cry like this in any other situation.

We can sometimes calm you by making eye contact with you, continuously talking to you, and singing to you. It is not guaranteed  though. Sometimes, we just have to take you back home (if possible), or take you to a room, with just you and us (your dad, your grandma and myself) in the room, and soothe you, sing to you and talk to you, until you calm down.

It first started in our way to Washington DC. We didn’t realize what the problem was. Then in Washington DC with Nosrat (Khaleh Sheida’s husband), then in a shopping mall in Washington DC, and…this is when we realized you have entered a new stage. You reacted to your surroundings.

Now, when we take you to a new place, we expect you to react with a piercing cry. Sometimes, especially if people do not notice you, and if you are not sleepy and in good mood, you are much much better. But hey, if you are sleepy, or if people notice you, you might make a big big BIG noise.

And…how lovely you are. A photo of David Amoils captures you exactly in that position. We adore you, sweetheart. You are growing, darling.

You love playing in it. We put you in it a couple of days before you were four months old.

Your feet barely touch the ground when we put you in there. But you love it. You want to put all those toys in your mouth, but they don’t reach your mouth. You try to extend your neck to put them in your mouth. It doesn’t work.

Your pull down the strap of the turtle to put it in your mouth, a music is played as a result. I can’t yet decide if you do it consciously or unconsciously.

You are lovely.

You fell down on the hardwood from the sofa! Oops!!

You were lying down on the sofa right besides your grandma. I was upstairs cleaning your room and your dresser. Yourd dad was out, biking. Your granny got distracted with her computer (she was watching your photos on your dad’s website) for some seconds when she just heard you screaming and saw you head down on the hardwood, screaming. She didn’t see how you fell down. But we can guess. You learned to roll over, and you rolled over completely when you were on the sofa.

Your grandma was so scared. Hugged you. I came down and got the update in some seconds. We could calm you. We made sure you had no pain in any area of your body. You had no bruises, or no bump in your head. Your dad came home, he got so nervous when we told him about it. We called Shahrokh and asked him about indications of concussion.

He said we needed to make sure there is no bump in your head. Your pupils are of the same size, and respond to light (we used a flashlight, and your pupils narrowed down). We needed to make sure all your body parts moved (no numbness or limpness on one side). We needed to make sure you weren’t abnormally sleepy. And we needed to make sure you wouldn’t vomit. None of them happened, and everything turned out to be totally fine. You were happy, playful, and perfectly normal, thanks god. No concussion.

You rolled over from your back to your front yesterday. Now you are a pro. You are so excited, we have a hard time putting you to sleep or feeding you.

Once we put you on a surface, you start to roll over. So, for feeding you, we need to calm you first, or keep you on your back.

The baby centre website says this is a skill for the fourth week of the third month, and also says that parents should give babies reassurance, when they roll over, because this can be scary for babies in the beginning. You will be four months old in ten days.

You even tried to crawl. You can crawl forward for just a millimetre.

You started touching people’s faces last week. It started with touching Banafsheh’s face, when you were engaged in a serious conversation with her. 🙂 You talked to her for almost half an hour, very actively, and as she got closer to you, you  started touching her face with both hands.

This morning you were touching your dad’s face, after he changed your diaper and washed your butt.  He really deserved that great touch; he had a sleepless night to take care of you.

You touched your granny’s face a couple of days ago, when she was talking to you. You haven’t touched my face yet. I am still waiting.

You have started sucking your fingers as a replacement to pacifiers, when you feel sleepy, and you want to go to sleep. You suck your two middle fingers with so much noise, and joy.

Now, whenever you are hungry, you do the same thing. I have to take your fingers out of your mouth, then put the nipple into your mouth.

It is almost three or four days that we didn’t give you pacifiers. Now your feeding is back to normal. You do not play with  the nipple. You just refuse the bottle when you are full, but if you are hungry, you drink milk with very little problem. Yeyyyy…

As your father says, we would love you even if you looked like a chimpanzee. You, however, look gorgeous. It is not just us; everyone is amazed by your beauty and extremely flirting, yet proud manner.

I was in line for cashier in one of the iranian grocery stores (Parsian, the one that catered for my babyshower as well). A young man was standing in the line. He looked at you, a sweet baby and opened his mouth to say she is a cute baby, when you suddenly looked straight into his eyes, and he went speechless (!), stuttering ‘what beautiful eyes’. Her wife was also there, and the young handsome iranian couple were amazed by your eyes and your look.

Your doctor also says if she grows as she is today, she will be one happy girl. Your weight has always been under average and your height has always been well above average.

You do not give us a hard time for eating. It is sometimes not that easy and requires patience, but overall it is good.

Twice you became really fussy, refused the bottle, and spit milk out, even when you showed signs of hunger. We thought a lot, tried different ways and tricks. Then all of a sudden we realized (and the second time, we remembered from the first time) what the reason might be. Both times, it happened a day or two after we introduced you to pacifiers. You, our adorable little one got confused between the two nipples.

In the trial and error process, we upgraded you to nipple level 2 (Dr. Brown’s), which is good for infants of 3 months and older. Now it takes you much shorter to drink your formula.

You were not breastfed. I did not have enough milk supply, and honestly, I realized that it would take me a very long time to feed you. In addition, I could never figure out how much milk you got. I tried a lot, and for the first three weeks I pumped to give you as much breast milk as I could, but for the three above-mentioned reasons I gave up.

So, if you ever end up having kids, you can decide if you would breastfeed. Do not feel guilty if you decide not to. I was not breastfed myself, my brother (your uncle Keyan) was not, and you yourself were not.

And…you do not like to drink your formula cold. It has to be warmer than room temperature.

Your grandparents (and myself) try to keep you safe in whatever way we can.

Your paternal grandparents donate a lot. In farsi we call it “sadagheh”, and religious people believe that “sadagheh” (the money given to the poor) keeps people from evil eye, or all bad things, deseases, or accidents.

Your maternal grandma (my mom) smokes “esfand” -so far at least four times a week, if not every day- to keep you from evil’s eyes!

I also donate ‘sadagheh’, and your father and myself make sure that my mom smokes esfand once people praise your beauty, your calmness or your eye color.

And…, your grandpa (your dad’s father) has made me promise I would donate a dollar a day to keep you from all evils.

Only god knows how we adore you, our sweet little girl.