Soccer Dad: One year

September 3, 2007

One year

Six years ago, on the Sunday of Labor Day, my parents took the children and we went out to eat. My wife didn't sleep that night and sometime, maybe 4AM I gave my mother the call for her to come over and babysit so we could go to the hospital.

About 7:30 AM Sept 3, 2001, Labor Day, we had a little girl.

(My mother tells how she came downstairs that morning to see all four children looking out the window - seeing our car gone - and waiting for the news.)

Last year on the Sunday of Labor Day my wife felt something going on. My parents took the children for a family dinner and we blew it off. About 9 PM we finally went to the hospital.

One thing about babies is that they take their time. For awhile, I thought that we'd have two children with the same birthday, Sept 3. But this one didn't cooperate. She arrived 1:15 AM - appropriately enough again on Labor Day - but it was Sept 4, 2006.

So a little more than 4 hours ago, she turned 52 weeks.

So today she is 1 year old minus one day, but that's close enough for our purposes.

I was looking back at my one month post and the differences are striking.

A newborn has nearly no qualities. She is either unhappy or she isn't. She is scrawny. Her movements are not deliberate. Activities that we take for granted - even something as basic as eating - have to be learned.

At a year a baby has progressed tremendously. She can occupy herself with activities, such as playing with toys. And if she's not entirely happy, she even knows how to manipulate others to get what she wants. If she's eating and we forgot to give her a drink she'll kvetch - something that might be described as a controlled cry - letting us know that service wasn't quite up to snuff and the we'd better bring over her sippy cup.

She can play games. "Beep" is when I touch her nose and (sometimes) in response she touches or grabs mine. "Peek-a-Boo" is when I hide my face and she pulls off whatever's covering it. Sometimes she'll hide her face in response. "High Five" means that she'll hit her sister's hand. When you sing "Happy Birthday" she might put her hands on her head.

She'll also wave when she sees someone she likes. She might clap - hit one hand onto the other wrist - or dance - swaying a bit - when she hears music.

She also loves baths. Wehn we're filling her tub she'll stand by the tub waiting. Sometimes, when we're nearby, she'll just make her way into the bathroom and stand by the tub waiting for us to fill it. Even if it isn't bath time.

So she's learned certain cues that she responds to or gives.

Not only does she know how to move now, she can crawl - sometimes, now, on her feet instead of knees, - cruise - walk holding on to something, - and uniquely, scoot - crawl in a seated position using one leg to push off, one to pull and a hand to help herself pull. That leaves a hand free to carry something. She climbs stairs and usually has the sense to stay away from the top of a flight of stairs.

She doesn't fall asleep in anyone's arms anymore, though, last week I took care of her in middle of the night and she was leaning against me. But now there's a whole world out there to distract her. She's not going to fall asleep like that. Still it's nice to bring back the days when' she'd fall asleep in my arms, even for a moment.

And while she hasn't always taken to me, I've made it to #2 or #3 on her list of favorites. She says "Abba" (Hebrew for "father") a lot, but it's not always clear that she's referring to me. It might just be an all inclusive word.

Her older sister informed us yesterday that skinny babies aren't cute, but "mushy" ones are, and she's certainly "mushy." We don't know how she got that way since she's not a great eater. But then I suspect we've seen this before with other children. She enjoys deserts a lot, especially chocolate.

Fortunately, she has a very easy-going temperament and is generally easy to please. At a year now, she continues to make us happy and occasionally crazy. (Try changing or dressing a baby who has other things on her mind.) She has 5 older siblings who would do anything for her.

So her it is her (almost) birthday. She's been with us for a year. And we couldn't be happier.