Dear Eliza,
You are growing so fast! Sometimes I wish I could just stop time and enjoy more of you at this age, but as you grow and engage more with the world each day you are even more fun. I'm torn!
You are starting to really track people with your eyes and at further distances. You have amazing eye contact, which will serve you well in life. You realized you have hands and are starting to use them, especially during nursing and bottle feeding. When I hold you, you grab my shirt collar and usually a batch of chest hair with it. Ouch. You still can't speak English.
You are starting to giggle and laugh! Your Mom and I make silly noises to solicit this, and when you reward us it is the absolute highlight of the day. I cannot stop smiling when you do.
You got your first round of shots yesterday at your 8-week appointment. I didn't attend, but Mom says you did great. You are also super healthy! The doctor says your motor skills are really advanced and you're in the 89th percentile for height, 76% for weight and 51% for head circumference. Nice work. Mom is always a little worried about her milk supply but you're proving things are just fine. It's astonishing that you can grow so much just with mother's milk. For a stretch in college I primarily ate chicken nuggets. I don't think it was as healthy an option.
I have been sick the last week and I've been trying to keep you from catching this lingering cold. The first few days I kept my distance from you and didn't touch you, which was really hard. The last few days I've been more liberal and have gotten back to holding you and bottle feeding you. I figure you catch the cold, your immunity system will build up that much faster.
I've felt these last few weeks like I've been working a lot, or rather work has taken a lot of my attention. I realize it more now that you're here and I can be spending the time with you. I shouldn't complain. Other people have jobs that require them to work longer hours and with inconvenient commutes that keeps them away from home. I think I have a good system now. I wake up fairly early, around 5 a.m., and start work a couple hours before I actually leave for the office. That way, I don't have to work as often after 5 p.m. when I get home and I can focus on you and Mom.
I wonder about what work will be like for you. Depending on your career choice, you may be able to have a very flexible work schedule and maybe not have to go to an office at all. Maybe the idea of "careers" will be different. I hope at the very least we will be more culturally favorable of a 4-day work week and companies will provide more holiday, vacation and parental leave time. Some tech companies are very advanced on that front. Some European and Nordic countries really have it right. I wouldn't mind if you decided to work in a foreign country one day if those perks aren't here. I'd surely visit or perhaps follow you there.
Speaking of tech companies, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg stole my idea. He recently wrote a publicly-facing letter to his newborn daughter, Max. I'm not sure it's coincidence this happened shortly after I wrote my first letter to you. I'll forgive him for stealing the idea only because he also announced he's planning to donate about $45 billion to causes that will benefit your generation.
I'm not that rich, but the first time you read this letter, ask me for $45 and I'll give it to you on the spot.
Love, Dad