{"id":2664,"date":"2011-02-09T03:19:13","date_gmt":"2011-02-09T10:19:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/coffeejitters.net\/blog\/?p=2664"},"modified":"2021-03-17T19:47:54","modified_gmt":"2021-03-18T02:47:54","slug":"dear-gem-month-22","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/coffeejitters.net\/blog\/2011\/02\/09\/dear-gem-month-22\/","title":{"rendered":"Dear Gem – Month 22"},"content":{"rendered":"

You are starting to learn the power of manners, and the call and response of some of our social conventions. \u00a0You’ve had Thank You<\/em> down for a little while now, and you are getting so much better with Please<\/em>. It’s so cute when you say please, you clasp your hands together and look up at me with those big, earnest eyes. Oh, I’m such a sucker for that look. \u00a0But the one that really cracks me up these days is your discovery of the bless you response to a sneeze. \u00a0I can tell when you’re going to do this, because you smirk and get a twinkle in your eye first, and then “ah… ah… choo!” you fake sneeze to see if you can get someone to say Bless You<\/em>. \u00a0You especially love doing this in elevators.<\/p>\n

\"box<\/a><\/p>\n

You are a very compassionate little girl. \u00a0You’ve latched on to the word OK<\/em>, and it holds a great deal of meaning for you. If I cough, or trip, or make any kind of an owie type of sound (my official line is that I don’t curse in front of you, even if I stub my toe) you ask me if I’m OK. “K? K? K? Mama, K?” You will keep asking until I say “Yes, I’m OK.” And then you give me the biggest relieved smile. \u00a0Of course you also expect me to ask you if you’re OK if you stumble, or choke on your milk. \u00a0Not that I wouldn’t anyway.<\/p>\n

This carries over on the playground, too. \u00a0If another child is crying, you’re right up in his face asking if he’s OK. But these poor kids don’t understand what you’re asking them. \u00a0The other day you dropped your babydoll, Molly, and then you got down on your knees, bent down and kissed her, and asked her if she was OK. She didn’t answer, either. “K? K? K, baby?” Oh, my heart.<\/p>\n

\"Cheetos\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Grandma introduced you to Cheetos<\/p>\n

You are so genuine; you’re not consumed with what others think of you. \u00a0I hope you can hold on to that attitude. \u00a0It can be really tempting to get caught up in the opinions of other people, and even put on an act to pretend to be the person you think they want you to be. \u00a0I’ve done that myself on\u00a0occasion, and I don’t recommend it. \u00a0That approach leads you away from happiness, not towards it. Being true to yourself is the big part of being happy.<\/p>\n

I want you to be happy.<\/p>\n

I love you so much.<\/p>\n

Mommy<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

You are starting to learn the power of manners, and the call and response of some of our social conventions. \u00a0You’ve had Thank You down for a little while now, and you are getting so much better with Please. It’s so cute when you say please, you clasp your hands together and look up at […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[695,834,138],"tags":[272,358],"class_list":["post-2664","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-cancer-2","category-how-to-juggle-cancer-and-parenting","category-parenting-living-well","tag-gem","tag-letters-to-gem","et-doesnt-have-format-content","et_post_format-et-post-format-standard"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","blog_post_layout_featured_media_urls":{"thumbnail":"","full":""},"categories_names":{"695":{"name":"Cancer","link":"http:\/\/coffeejitters.net\/blog\/category\/cancer-2\/"},"834":{"name":"How 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