Well it’s been a while since the big day. The first week after Liam’s (my) party was all about recuperation and getting the house back in order. Although, there are still projects to be completed on that front. The second week Siegfried got an abscess which meant a hefty veterinarian bill and a lot of cat care. We were all four of us under the oppressive thumb of the cone for a while. I can’t remember how long. Somewhere around 7 days. Nobody was happy. Then there was the recovery from that. By that time morale was sinking ever lower and David and I had some reckoning to do. That resulted in a new sleeping system for our family (we all now go to bed and wake up within 1 hour of each other). Then I got mastitis. Followed by another recovery period. Amidst all these special circumstances, baby bottoms were kept clean, books read, food prepared and consumed, dishes, diapers, and clothing all washed. And I marvel once again at how others do all this. I guess somehow on some days, just like us. Oh and David’s workload? Still heavy. But he is now definitely in the home stretch. Really. The end is in sight. In my mind the promise land of work – life balance includes all sorts of idyllic pass times and everything better. I may be setting myself up for disappointment. Time will tell. For now, we have eye’s set on the prize. And it would seem that as we are approaching this finish line, we’re looking pretty good considering what a challenge the past (almost) 13 months have been.
So the good stuff. I have been reading the writings of John Holt and LOVING what he has to say about kids. I just finished my second book (How Children Learn) as Liam fell asleep at breast. As if he knew that my next task should be to sit down and (finally) write up a post for this family record I’m determined to keep, he closed the book with the following passage from another book (The Biography of a Baby by Millicent Shinn. She captured so much of how I feel about this past year with Liam, in a way that left me paralyzed to convey the same notions in my own words. So first, her words:
“And so the story of the swift, beautiful year is ended, and our wee, soft, helpless baby had become this darling thing, beginning to toddle, beginning to talk, full of a wide-awake baby intelligence, and rejoicing in her mind and body; communicating with us in a vivid and sufficient dialect, and overflowing with the sweet selfishness of baby coaxings and baby gratitude. And at a year old, there is no shadow on the charm from the perception that its end is near. By the second birthday we say, “Ah, we shall be losing our baby soon!” But on the first, we are eager, as the little one herself is, to push on to new unfoldings; it is the high springtime of babyhood – perfect, satisfying, beautiful.”
Yes! See what I mean?
Now the news. Liam’s first tooth could be felt by touch on Thursday June 28th. The second followed quickly. They’ve been visible for a while, but today as I was watching Mr. Adorable chatter I realized how prominent they are becoming. It’s fun to wonder how different he’ll look with a mouth full of teeth. With teeth comes the foray into many new varieties of food. David is leading that effort with dinner time samples. We (finally) eat dinner as a family at our dining room table – I am sooooo happy! We have also loosened the reigns a bit and given our little guy some opportunities to feed himself. Boy, is that messy. And a good way to occupy his attention while I get things done in the kitchen – the site of most of the activity in our little place and Liam’s den of desire. Oh to touch and manipulate all those interesting objects! He is quite the chef in training. He’s figured out where the dried mango is in the fridge and has gotten pretty quick at plucking out the bag and then waiting patiently while I get him out a piece and install him in his chair. So much for my quest to feed him only local food.
The other stuff is small potatoes in comparison to the emergence of teeth, but here goes. Liam is increasingly expressive with sounds and facial (whole body) expressions. He’s a lot of fun to hang out with. As his walking was becoming more frequent and better coordinated, Leah noted that is babbling was becoming more complex. Another bit of evidence to indicate that all his “wiring” works!
Well shoot! I did a poor job of documenting the walking process. Liam is now a toddler. The transition from crawling to walking was on the long side for Liam, I’d estimate around 3 months. Liam’s process of learning to walk involved at least one break. There was a period of a few days during which he was spending more time on foot and then he went back to all fours for a few days. I try not to react too strongly to his actions so as to avoid the possibility of distracting him from his work. This helps me to remain calm as he does what he needs to do. Just as I’ve heard stories about other kids making quick strides when it comes to bipedal locomotion, Liam had fire in his heels once he was walking. Sadly one of his first running episodes (on July 6th) ended with a crash and a very big goose egg on his forehead. There were many witnesses, one of who was Susan (in the Pilates studio – AKA Dr. Minger at her office). That was a heart thumper to be sure, but so far so good. Putting the story in writing reminds me that I’ve got to put some padding on all that metal Pilates equipment…..
I think that I may have already mentioned this at some point…maybe not. There are a lot of bumps and bruises around here. I’ve gotten in the habit of taking Liam to the arnica and giving him a tablet when he’s crying. Which stops the crying. We get to the arnica dish and the crying subsides. He waits for the tablet and then smiles when I put it in his mouth, usually with a murmur of satisfaction. David discovered that if presented with an arnica tablet in the palm of a hand, Liam will very carefully pick it up and place it in his mouth.
One of the cute things that Liam sometimes does is playing while lying on his tummy. He’ll be manipulating some sort of object and talking happily all the while on his tummy. It’s cute. Perhaps its the contrast between his more typical high energy bustle that makes it so cute. We’ll be working away in the Pilates studio and look over to find him doing that. Inevitably we take a moment to comment on how cute he is. Irma came up with the idea to give him a body massage while he was lying down too. She was rubbing him and he was humming away in appreciation (we can only hope). Liam definitely makes studio time fun!
We are now under a mountain of photos and videos. I’m hoping to learn how to upload them myself especially since I’ve started my own personal blog. But for now I’m just focusing on getting all these thoughts and ideas into writing. Pretty pictures to follow soon….
Love, Faye
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