Labor Day weekend is long gone. Students have been back to school
for weeks now (my husband included!). The evenings are starting to cool off and
people are excited to bust out their jeans and sweaters. All of the social and
cultural factors have been lining up for a while. And now, it’s official. The Fall Equinox is
here. Summer is over.
So I thought it was a good moment to pause, take a breath, and get back to this here blog of
mine.
Drake, I want you to know that I didn’t stop writing in your
online baby book because there was nothing exciting going on to tell you about
or because your development became any less thrilling to me – quite the opposite, my son! We have been so busy living such a full life. And you! You
have grown so much and so fast and so profoundly!
You are moving and learning and vocalizing.
You have been getting around pretty well all summer – you
perfected a military crawl several months ago. It was so effective, I wasn’t
sure you would ever care to learn how to actually crawl on your knees. But
about a week ago, you got it. And now, you are literally unstoppable. You are
getting anywhere and everywhere – fast! You even started climbing the stairs –
cute, but terrifying. Sure enough, you rolled down a few steps two days ago. It’s
high time for some baby gates. You and I have errands to run later today…
You are also sitting up incredibly well. This may not seem
as impressive as the crawling, but it baffles me possibly more than the crawling does. You just look
so big when you sit up so tall and
sturdy like that. And it wasn’t even a process! You just DID it. One day, about a
month ago, you just tucked your knees under you, pushed yourself up, and then turned and looked at me like, "What? No big deal." Now you crawl where you want to go, slide your
legs under you, and sit and play with your desired object – you know, like
electrical cords and box fans and dog bowls. Very appropriate toys.
In the world of “firsts,” there has been a lot going on. You said
your first word about six weeks ago and haven’t stopped saying it since. What
was it, you ask? Well, in a move that melted your momma’s heart yet again, you
said “Momma” before any other word. It is so good to be loved by you, Little
Man.
You went on your first airplane ride and went swimming for the first
time when we visited the Tennessee clan
this past July. You did great on the plane – it wasn’t the fun and restful trip that
Mom has been used to in her life with the addition of you on my lap – but every stewardess
commented on how good you were. On each leg of our trip, there was a baby that
screamed and cried and kept everyone awake but it was never you. We were proud
parents, for sure.
I was equally as proud and excited to see how much you loved the
water when we went swimming in Nana and Pampa’s neighborhood pool. There was no
fear whatsoever, even when I tried the blow-in-your-face-and-dunk trick. Your
eyes got big, but you did great. Held your breath and decided to smile despite
the shock. Between that and your very
vigorous and strong kicking in the bathtub, I just know you’re going to be a
great swimmer. It’s in your genes.
On a much less happy note, you were diagnosed with a little
“condition” this summer. At the end of an extremely heart wrenching process, we
found out you had something called Anal Stenosis. It basically means that your
little bottom was too small. After eleven days without being able to go to the
bathroom and a trip to the emergency room in Chattanooga that involved an enema
and the most heart breaking hour and a half yet, it was our wonderful
pediatrician here at home that finally told us what was going on. Mom had been
feeling extremely guilty because the nurse practitioner in Tennessee had told
us it was constipation from the foods I’d been feeding you that caused the
cramping and screaming and pain that I had seen you go through for days. I was
devastated that the bananas and rice cereal I had been so pleased to give you
had caused you so much pain. Turns out, it wasn’t your diet at all. It was your
hardware. That being said, Dr. Reynolds recommended that we go back to a strictly
breast milk diet – well, breast milk and prune juice - to keep your stools as
soft as possible while the situation sorted itself out. Yes, that was the good
news! It was something you would grow out of simply through the process of…
well… pooping. It would gradually stretch out, though it would be a slower than
normal and slightly uncomfortable process. We had to learn to use at home
enemas and mom had to chug gallons and gallons of water to keep her milk supply
up to snuff (your appetite had grown used to the bulk of solid foods and it
wasn’t easy to deprive you of it). But, I am happy to announce, you are doing
MUCH better. Over the past couple of weeks, you have been pooping easily and
frequently. I have even been able to reintroduce a few purees over the past
week! I mixed in a little prune juice, just to be on the safe side, and – so
far! – all is going well. I hope it is something that is behind us now.
It’s hard to condense the past several months of change into one
blog post (if only I had been keeping up with it, right?) but I want you to
know it’s been a great summer. It’s been a pleasure to watch you grow and
explore and just to BE your mom. I saw a commercial for laundry soap, of all
things, today that said “you will have a child forever, but a baby for only one
year.” What?! You won’t be my baby after one year?! But that is almost over! Agh.
I can hardly stand the thought of how soon we will be celebrating your first
birthday (though I am so proud to see you grow). I hereby vow to savor every day
of your baby hood from today until it’s over, and then to celebrate the next
phase with you too.
(And I hope to write a little more about it along the way.)
