first steps

Lowell Is One, And Life Is Good For The 3rd-Born
Babies

Lowell Is One, And Life Is Good For The 3rd-Born

by Jill
written by Jill

In many ways, I think life is better for our 3rd-born than the other two. We are more confident parents, he has siblings to play with, he got to eat cake for the first time at 6 months old.

So I won’t beat myself up over his first birthday sneaking up on me. Of course, I knew it was coming. We are planning a small party for this weekend, and I’ve been working on the details here and there.

But in my mind, this weekend seemed more like 2 weeks away? And I kind of forgot he actually turns one before then. So when Scott said to me on Tuesday, “Tomorrow’s the big day for LoLo*!” I was momentarily confused before it hit me that we would wake up the next day having left another year of infancy behind.

Oh. I didn’t… I’m not… prepared for this.

But time marched on as it does. And I dropped him off at daycare yesterday morning with a plan to pick him up at 2 and begin some kind of family birthday festivities. I didn’t know what. We’d figure it out.

“So he walks now?!” his teacher said to me as I met them at the door for pickup.

I cocked my head to the side like a confused puppy. “Uh. No? I don’t think so? Did he?” I quizzically replied.

“Ohhhh… well, yeah. He did! Like, 5 or so steps?” she replied.

So, that’s cool. My baby took his first steps at daycare. On his first birthday, which I wasn’t even prepared for.

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Good news: He’s my 3rd baby, so I’m really quite okay with it.

He repeated the performance for us a few times before we took off to dinner…

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where he got an endless supply of bean dip.

Then we made forgetful lemons into lemonade and walked over to ToysRUs where he got to hand pick his gift.

What kid gets to do that that? Only the very lucky 3rd-born.

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Note the crawling on the floor at a toy store. A privilege only reserved for the cherished 3rd-born.

So see? It doesn’t matter that I nearly forgot his birthday, or that I wasn’t there to see his first steps. He lives a life that goes with the flow, free of dietary restrictions and pesky rules about germs and bedtime.

It’s good to be 3rd.

*LoLo is the nickname Leyna gave him right after he was born. The whole family has adopted it now. Because 3rd born.

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BabiesThe Story

My Sweet Little Biped

by Jill
written by Jill

So there are some things I must just document on here because, in essence, *this* is Kendall’s baby book.  Poor guy, I know.  He’s in for a lot of therapy.  This is so far beyond documenting immunizations and the cost of gas the day he was born.  Truth is, though, that I suck at filling out that paper one (really, who the HELL notices the cost of gas on their way to deliver a baby?) so this will have to do.

Anyway, I just had to do a run by post to document that this day, tax day, April 15th, 2009, my son officially started walking!  Seems he likes to save these big milestones for holidays, I guess, what with pulling up and crawling on Christmas and now walking on such an ever important national holiday.

He took his first steps about 4 weeks ago at the first birthday party of my best friend’s little monkey…er… I mean boy.  That kid has been walking/running/leaping off of tall buildings since he was 9 or 10 months old, and the sight of his incredibly masterful mobility scared the hell out of me, frankly.  When Kendall saw him climb to the top of a coffee table and jump over to a couch, then reach his  little monkey arm down to help him up, he was obviously touched deeply by the challenge.  The very next day he just took off after him, five whole steps in a row before he had any idea what he was doing.

Also, in an effort to be just like his new found BFF, he took up thumb sucking, but just for that day.  Looks like we need to start preparing that speech about peer pressure, looking cool, and smoking because your best friend does (disclaimer – not in any way trying to equate thumb sucking with smoking, although, I’m sure there is a fortune to be made for the first successful inventor of the baby thumb sucking quitting patch).

However, since that fateful day, he has yet to walk again with such determination, just a few timid steps finished off by a face plant or butt drop.  Today, though…TODAY he decided to go for it, and he will not stop.  He started out with just a few teeters early this morning.  By the time I got around to making dinner tonight he was cruising around the kitchen from one appliance to the next, ever the tiny little drunk man, but so determined.  Much like one would look when trying to pass a roadside sobriety test, I imagine.

So I have now reached a whole new level of screwed and need to, once again, run around the house, testing all things at his eye level to make sure they won’t maim or kill him.  However, I have to say that I’m pretty freaking stoked.  Not only is this just huge in the life of my little baby, growing into a toddler, but it also means I’m one step closer to not risking throwing my back out any time I have to cart him on my hip anywhere.  There was a time I was in no rush for him to walk, I think he weighed at least 2 pounds less at that time.  Now…now I’m ready.

Kendall is 11 months, 1 week and 6 days old

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