365 Days – it sure flew by fast!
December 30, 2009
1 year old Parker
Last year on December 30th Zach and I got up before the sun (4am). I enjoyed my last shower for a few days, and then we grabbed our bag and drove about 3 blocks down the street to the hospital. When we arrived at the labor & delivery desk at 5am, they whisked me into a room and directly in to a johnny and then to bed where they stuck me with a few IV’s. We hung out and watched Parker’s movement on the fetal monitor for a while, and went through a few stacks of paperwork. Zach changed into some lovely maroon scrubs and at some point, I got my epidural. By 7:30am I was wheeled down to the operating room. I remember shivering a lot – first from the epidural, and then the cool temperature in the OR compounded the shaking. The very kind anesthesiologist tucked a warmed blanket around my head and shoulders while the rest of the operating team worked below my waist. I can remember a few tugs and pulls, and then wondering if they were going to make the incision soon, which is right when I first heard your little squeaky cry.
A few hours later, Zach and I were settled back in our room with the newest addition to our family, Parker Austin. Luckily, this time around, one of us knew how to breastfeed, so that process went a little more smoothly. Right from the start, you were Squeaky – you were the noisiest eater we had seen, and we chuckled over your little noises. You had lots of visitors that first day, and slept through nearly all of it. Your brother was so excited to meet you, and immediately insisted that we unswaddle you so that he could see your toes (I know, he’s got some strange ideas at times).
Eventually the visitors dwindled, and the three of us slept and relaxed for the rest of the day. The next few days in the hospital were pretty quiet and relaxed. You slept a lot, and I tried to sleep whenever possible. We tried to learn as much about your new personality as possible. We let you stay up to watch the ball drop on New Year’s Eve, but I told you that would be the last time in a long time that we’d allow it 
I finally let your Dad eat Thai food (during our pregnancy, I wouldn’t let anyone even have it in the same room with me – even the sight of the restaurant was enough to make me feel nauseous).
You have been a joy and delight every day since you were conceived. At the same time, you have challenged us in ways we could not have anticipated every day. You can be the best, happiest baby, and you have the most adorable smile that has only gotten cuter with the six teeth you have sprouted. On the other hand, you have very strong opinions, and are not shy about letting us know when you are irritated. Mostly, you get mad when we try to change your diaper (which sometimes takes two people – one to pin you down, and one to clean you up) or try to get you dressed – the cold winter has provided plenty of challenges for all of us – you can take mittens off almost as fast as we can put them on, and many days we skip them (assuming the weather isn’t too cold).
You are a wonderful sleeper. If you had been our first child, we might have considered having a whole litter. The first 6-8 months were rough, but now you’re amazing and we very much appreciate that (especially because your brother is still a rotten sleeper). You are also an excellent eater (not at all picky) which is refreshing. I’m sure you’ll develop your own picky tastes as you toddle into childhood, but for now we are enjoying the fact that you’ll eat pretty much all of whatever we put on your tray.
You learned to roll over at about 5 months. By 7 months you were scooting and then crawling. At 10 months you could stand for the briefest of seconds on your own, and started to cruise on furniture. You took your first steps in the middle of your 11th month, but you still prefer to crawl (oh man, you are the fastest crawler – it’s tough to keep up with you sometimes!)
You are a rough and tumble little boy. You love to tackle your brother, or anyone else who might be sitting or lying on the floor. You learned to crawl up the stairs at 9 months, but we are still too terrified to let you do it on your own, and your climbing back down skills are still a bit weak. In some ways, you can be just like your brother. In others, you are his antithesis, you are chaos where he is order. He has loved you from the beginning though, and the two of you are clearly friends. Xander does not like to go places without you, and even when offered a treat, he refuses if you can’t come. He always remembers to ask if you can have some of whatever he has, and he loves it when the two of you “match” – especially clothing (which personally, isn’t my thing, but I do indulge your brother from time to time). It is easy to see that you two will be the best of friends for years to come.
If I could only use one word to describe your first year, it would be bouncy. We’ve had lots of ups and downs with you (your weight, your sleeping pattern, your moods, etc.) and the one movement you have loved ever since you could hold your head steady is bouncing – if we could just hold you under your arms, you would jump and bounce happily for hours at a time (unfortunately, we have yet to meet anyone with the arm strength to keep up with that desire).
You are my youngest and last son. I love you more than words can describe. You are smart, strong willed and have brief but wonderful moments of tenderness. One of my favorite memories from 2009 will always be rocking quietly with you in front of the fire as you fall asleep and watching the snow slowly fall out the window. It was as close to perfection as I have gotten in a long time. I hope your first year was as wonderful for you as it was for us, and I know that this coming year will be just as amazing. Happy Birthday Peanut!
Parker can crawl! Although, the fact that he can doesn’t mean that he always does… During the past two months or so Parker has gotten very good at belly scooting. He can get anywhere he wants to go on his belly, and he’s pretty quick (especially when he’s attempting to tip over the cat’s water bowl, which reminds me, I’ve got to move that out of reach again…) I think his ability to scoot on his belly delayed his desire to crawl. He’s been able to get up on all fours and rock back and forth for months now, be he didn’t get any momentum forward until the past few days. Now he’ll crawl (really crawl) for a few steps before flopping back onto his belly. I’m guessing it’ll only be a matter of time before he discovers that crawling is indeed a faster mode of transportation than belly scooting.
A few nights ago I thought my baby might never sleep again. He slept three hours that night, and they were not consecutive. I’m not sure how I made it through work without falling asleep in my chair. But last night, oh last night was blissful. Zach put Parker to sleep just after 7pm. We’ve got a good bedtime routine now – bath, dinner, books, bottle, bed. Xander was in bed and books read and lights out just about 8pm (after two trips to the bathroom and a lengthy discussion of what we were doing tomorrow). Zach and I were both in bed by 11pm. Xander woke me around 4ish looking for his binky, but that was a quick trip.
Every once in a while I find an “incident report” taped to Xander’s cubby at school. These reports are usually an explanation of some minor injury Xander sustained during play time. He’s two and these sorts of things happen regularly and don’t surprise us anymore. Once in a while the incident report contains additional information explaining that another child was responsible for said injury (a bite, a whack to the head, etc.) I’ve seen other parents get incident reports explaining that their child was the cause of injury to another child. Xander hasn’t ever had one of those incident reports (thankfully!!) But after receiving the latest report of Xander getting injured by another child, I started to wonder if perhaps my kid is a perpetual victim. Does he have some sort of inate personality trait that makes him more attractive to bullies? Is he able to assert himself when necessary? Is this something that I can teach to a two year old? Is this a problem that I should address before it becomes more serious, or am I just worrying unnecessarily? I know my little guy can be overly sensitive – his feelings get hurt easily and depending on his energy level, even the smallest slight can appear to be a tragedy in his eyes. On one hand, he’s two. Some of his reaction is simply his age. On the other hand, I don’t want to overly coddle him and continue to see these sorts of reactions when he’s 4, 8, 10, etc. Ug, this feels like one of those challenging parenting moments when I’m going to have to pick a path and pray that it was the right one, and never really knowing if my decision was the best one, or if things would have been better if I reacted differently…
Finally, after getting sooo close so many times, Parker finally rolled over (back to front) on Father’s Day! He hasn’t put on a repeat performance yet, but we know it’s just a matter of time. He’d really prefer to be walking I think, but he’s content to do baby squats at least 500 a day until he can stand on his own. I haven’t convinced him that his balance needs to improve for the whole walking thing to really work…
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