One Small Step
For the second time in his short life Felix reduced me — a grown man — to tears.
It happened this morning. From when he wakes up to just before 9am he's my responsibility. This lets mum get a lie-in (having invariably been up and down with him during the night) and dad still gets to his desk for a 9 o'clock start.
My normal morning routine involves the usual — change his nappy, make a cup of tea, read him a book, eat some cereal, play with him some more. etc etc. I still get chance to do the usual things about the house because he generally stays where you last put him until you return.
Until this morning that is, when, as if by magic, he learnt to crawl!
I don't think it was just the fact he could crawl that made me cry and I'm not sure exactly what it was. It was probably a mix of joy, pride and loss. Not the loss of my freedom to do what I like, safe in the knowledge he's where I left him. It's more to do with the loss of the baby and part of his dependence on you.
Until you've had a baby you can't imagine how big a deal such small things are. Last week for the first time he managed to find his dummy, pick it up, turn it the right way round and then put it in his mouth. You might think nothing of this, but it's a small miracle that he's now able to do this and other things. What next? Walking!?
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Trust me, it doesn't get any better, and I have three, the oldest (my only daughter) who is 20 and going to graduate from college next year. It can still reduce me to tears to see...
...my 16 year old go to prom in a tux
... my 11 year old star on stage as the Genii in Aladdin
...my 20 year old live in another country for a semester
...etc. etc. etc.
The joys and sorrows are different and somewhat less immediate (turning over, smiling, crawling, walking, talking), but not much less poignant. All I can say is, enjoy it all, as it goes by all too fast, even those moments which feel like forever in the middle of the night.
I remember those days. Enjoy every single minute of it. They grow up faster than you think. Mine our now 13 and 8 and I wish I could freeze time and keep that way! :)
Walking does come next my friend, and let me tell you, boy does life change... My daughter just started moving herself along the other day. Now it's like crawling never existed...
John
The other time you will cry is when he stops taking naps!
Welcome to the club!
I agree, these are great years, cherish them every day.
Wait until you and your wife go on vacation without the little guy for the first time. We ended up coming a day earlier because we were missing the kids so much...
; )
I always tell people, you have higher highs, and lower lows.
But on the flip side of your story, this is something you have to look forward to.
My son is 11 years old, and I tried to give him a 'talking-to' on the right way to handle himself. The kid rolled his eyes at me. Boy that made my blood boil. Granted it took 11 years for him to get there..haha. I had to call my dad and apologize for me rolling my eyes at him growing up, and now I know how it feels. He now is getting a good laugh at my expense. And said, payback, payback....and laughed and laughed.
Boy that morning routine sounds familiar! Faizaan is 19 months old and running all over the place now, but I remember when he hit some of those more basic milestones. Enjoy every minute :-)
Isn't it amazing and wonderful to see him develop! Now, run yourself around the house and find everything below 10" that might not be suitable in his mouth because before walking comes exploring an hands and knees. Eventually, he'll find something to pull himself up to standing, so brace yourself! (and lock down anything with wheels!)
My son just 13 and explaining him that the basic maths : -9 till the power 2 is something different than (-9) till power 2...boy his school numbers are somewhat depending on me...;-)
Bet you will get such circumstances sooner or later (LOL).
sad i wasn't there but chuffed all the same.
but when you come back down to earth Jake
i hate to sound boring BUT !!!!!!
and I know Karen is with me on this
it's a safty gate at the top of the cellar steps
and a metal mesh grill over the fish pond.
dad
Yep, recognizable!
keep enjoying and: what a beautiful blue eyes he has!
Congratulations!
It's a wonderful picture and I'm charmed by his blue eyes.
The next time you cry will be when he falls head first down the attic stairs and doesn't move afterwards - fortunately my 15 month old was only winded. Or when you go to check the bed when he's only been used to not being in a cot for a few days and you find he's missing and relocated himself to a random part of the house and then fallen asleep so doesn't respond to your calls. My word, children know how to test you! The rest is easy!!
Gotta agree with your dad - enable panic mode and start fixing all those unprotected power sockets, stair cases and ponds/pools/whatever and put rubber tabs on sharp coffee table corners. Maybe I'm just too gloomy...
Anyway if you think this is him becoming less depending on you think again. Up until 3-4 years they need your input on almost every action except playing and sleeping. It's when he starts making decisions by himself and starts doing stuff on his own - that's when you'll cry over lost dependence :)
On a happier note you'll love it when he puts his arm around your neck, gives you a kiss and says "I love you dad".
I'm looking at a picture of my two now. You loose a lot of your independence as an adult and time for each other as a couple when you have kids but you gain so much :-)
There will be many times like this to come. One that especially got to me was the day my wife and I put our boy on the bus for the first time to go to Kindergarten. That was a real tear jerker.
Wow, Jake -- congratulations! I echo what the other parents said: all too quick they grow up. Now begins the task of raising the not-so-child-friendly items higher and higher from the ground. About a half a meter or so every six to ten months until they reach 10 & then you have to buy locks. Then you're good until *they* buy locks for their bedroom door!
Felix is absolutely adorable. Again, congrats!
My big moment was at 9 weeks, when Annabelle smiled back at me...prior to this they were both eating/sleeping/sh*ting machines.
PS: Crawlers have no problems going up stairs coming or going down is a different matter