One Year Later

Sometimes I can not believe that E is a year old! It is amazing to see the leaps and bound he has made since being born. He's changed so much, from being a swaddled little bean who slept all day, to an active little boy who crawls and climbs everywhere. Not to mention the changes Nick and I have gone through. We lost a lot of freedom when E came along. Our time wasn't ours anymore, and our energy wasn't ours either. Adjusting to being at home all the time was no easy feat for an independent woman like myself. I still miss work but in reality, even on a bad day, I'd rather have a helpless baby yell at me than an angry pharmacy patient.

Nick and I have both noticed that when we put in the effort to become empathetic and attentive parents, it makes E so much happier and it makes things so much easier for everyone. It's not the easiest, we have agendas and priorities. Sometimes it's too easy to automatically go to the smartphone or computer and distract ourselves. However, the thing that changed my priorities for good was a few days ago. E and I had a grueling day, he was needy, clingy, and inconsolable most of the day. By the time Nick got home I just wanted to curl up with a bottle of wine (or move to another country and start over). The next day, instead of resenting E, I did my best to spend all my attention on him. We laughed, played, read, listened to music, and napped. That night he literally laughed himself to sleep. It was a complete 180. I don't always have the self control to remove all distractions from my reach, honestly, watching a kid open and shut a toy a million times in a row can get quite boring. However I've noticed when he's content playing alone, I can sneak off and do some reading, writing, or researching. As long as I'm near and he feels safe I think we can manage keeping both of us happy. E is constantly growing and changing. It only fits if his parents are doing the same. We've made it a goal to get into the habit of making a conscious effort to parent more attentively.

I feel that changing the way I interact with E will help him to build fundamental skills in relationships and communication. He's already so smart, I want to nurture his emotions as well as his education. Here is some insight to his personality and daily life. We go to the library every week for story time. He loves to play with his toys, especially the noisy ones. He still needs to sleep with us for part of the night. He climbs on everything! He loves to watch other kids and play with them after making sure they aren't aliens. He loves when daddy comes home from work and plays with him. He loves reading with mommy, but is getting better at reading with daddy. He loves to play with the puppy (RC loves to hide from E and sulk). He loves bath time (splashing is the best). He eats well, but loves to throw his food or feed the puppy. He loves to fall asleep being rocked after a bottle (even though he'll have to wean from the bottle soon). When he's feeling needy he'll follow me around and yell at me, then arch out of my arms after I hold him for a minute. He loves being outside. He loves spending time with his extended family. He loves playing hide and seek with daddy. He loves animal noises. His laugh is infectious, his smile, contagious, his voice, entrancing. He has the most adorable face ever. I'm not biased at all... I'm so happy to have this amazing little dude in my life. He gives me so many lessons in love, humility, and patience. He has changed our lives in more ways than we'll ever know. I can count on this next year (and many more after that) on being just as educational and extraordinary. Now, it's picture time: