Confessions of a 13-Month Old Father
I’ve had a busy couple of months and I haven’t been posting blogs to you like I once did. Things are changing for both of us, but mostly you are changing so rapidly that it catches me flat-footed at times. To be fair, more often, I parry, adapt & roll with the punches thrown off by your frenzied, kinetic embrace of life. At first, it was every little development that held me in awe, but now it is the sheer volume and rapidity of changes. There are so many, but to list just a few…
You suddenly understand your expressions impact others and you use them to manipulate and to charm. You cock your head and smile at your grandma, melting her into submission. Or, when asked to come, there’s a flash in your eyes that says, “Oh, yeah! Why don’t you come and get me?” and then you bolt fast as lightening away. You’ve befriended mischief and you don’t take 2 naps in the day anymore. You’re more social with other children and now throw tantrums when displeased with your mom or me. You’re taller and thinner and are finally starting to have a full head of platinum hair. You can crouch and keep your balance while standing on one foot and you respond verbally to sounds we make. I say, “da, da, da, da, da,” and you respond in like manner even matching the number of da’s.
You like tuna, vodka pasta, coque au vin, and salmon. You’re always hungry, always eating and you now prefer to hold your own bottle of milk. You also smack your head into table tops about 50 times a day. You must get a lot of headaches, but that doesn’t seem to phase you much. You sign words now, but only when their meanings grab your fancy and no amount of practice or repetition gets you to use signs that don’t interest you.
But other things haven’t changed and through some of these traits I begin to see the person you might become. You smile freely and often. You have an incredible amount of patience for a baby, an attention span that holds for 10 or 15 minutes when you’re focused. You still love music and dancing and playing with balls, whether throwing them or dribbling them with your feet (it amazes me you can do that so young). You are good-natured and are pleased to share your toys, food, and drink. You remain attached to your parents, as we do to you, and to Bella, despite her incessant grumbling about your rough attentions. You’re musical and are drawn to really big and noisy things (fire engines, busses, trucks, airplanes, elephants, etc.). I sense awe and joy in you and I hope to help you cultivate those traits as you grow.
Speaking of awe and of really big things, last weekend I went to San Francisco to share in the celebration of a great friend’s 40th birthday. Before attending the party, I hiked in Muir Woods with another great friend through an amazing redwood forest, where the trees had trunks so wide at the base that you could literally walk through them standing upright (many had split at their bases forming great tunnels). We then spent the afternoon walking along the beach to the sound of the roaring waves before retiring to a game of backgammon in a cozy bar with a roaring fire. Later we arrived at the party atop the tallest hilltop in Sausalito with a spectacular view of the Bay and of the Golden Gate Bridge all lit up as if just for us.
Some day soon we’ll take you to San Francisco to see this amazing place. But then there are so many places I want you to see. There’s London, Paris, Belgium, Venice, Amsterdam, Prague, Crete, Capri, Seattle, Big Sur and Big Bear, Yellowstone and Yosemite, the Rocky Mountains, the Grand Canyon, Southern Utah, the Pacific Ocean, Baja, the Mexican Riviera, and the Caribbean to name a few of the places I’ve been. And there are so many places that I have yet to see. It’s a great big world, but it is getting smaller and I say we give it go at trying to see them all…
You suddenly understand your expressions impact others and you use them to manipulate and to charm. You cock your head and smile at your grandma, melting her into submission. Or, when asked to come, there’s a flash in your eyes that says, “Oh, yeah! Why don’t you come and get me?” and then you bolt fast as lightening away. You’ve befriended mischief and you don’t take 2 naps in the day anymore. You’re more social with other children and now throw tantrums when displeased with your mom or me. You’re taller and thinner and are finally starting to have a full head of platinum hair. You can crouch and keep your balance while standing on one foot and you respond verbally to sounds we make. I say, “da, da, da, da, da,” and you respond in like manner even matching the number of da’s.
You like tuna, vodka pasta, coque au vin, and salmon. You’re always hungry, always eating and you now prefer to hold your own bottle of milk. You also smack your head into table tops about 50 times a day. You must get a lot of headaches, but that doesn’t seem to phase you much. You sign words now, but only when their meanings grab your fancy and no amount of practice or repetition gets you to use signs that don’t interest you.
But other things haven’t changed and through some of these traits I begin to see the person you might become. You smile freely and often. You have an incredible amount of patience for a baby, an attention span that holds for 10 or 15 minutes when you’re focused. You still love music and dancing and playing with balls, whether throwing them or dribbling them with your feet (it amazes me you can do that so young). You are good-natured and are pleased to share your toys, food, and drink. You remain attached to your parents, as we do to you, and to Bella, despite her incessant grumbling about your rough attentions. You’re musical and are drawn to really big and noisy things (fire engines, busses, trucks, airplanes, elephants, etc.). I sense awe and joy in you and I hope to help you cultivate those traits as you grow.
Speaking of awe and of really big things, last weekend I went to San Francisco to share in the celebration of a great friend’s 40th birthday. Before attending the party, I hiked in Muir Woods with another great friend through an amazing redwood forest, where the trees had trunks so wide at the base that you could literally walk through them standing upright (many had split at their bases forming great tunnels). We then spent the afternoon walking along the beach to the sound of the roaring waves before retiring to a game of backgammon in a cozy bar with a roaring fire. Later we arrived at the party atop the tallest hilltop in Sausalito with a spectacular view of the Bay and of the Golden Gate Bridge all lit up as if just for us.
Some day soon we’ll take you to San Francisco to see this amazing place. But then there are so many places I want you to see. There’s London, Paris, Belgium, Venice, Amsterdam, Prague, Crete, Capri, Seattle, Big Sur and Big Bear, Yellowstone and Yosemite, the Rocky Mountains, the Grand Canyon, Southern Utah, the Pacific Ocean, Baja, the Mexican Riviera, and the Caribbean to name a few of the places I’ve been. And there are so many places that I have yet to see. It’s a great big world, but it is getting smaller and I say we give it go at trying to see them all…
posted by chadu at
3:05 PM
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