In the beginning, infants are very small. Yes, yes, you say. We know that. But you don't *really* know that until you see yours for the first time. Chances are, you are in a hospital. You have been there for a few hours, and you are exhausted. And suddenly you have this little purple cone headed... thing. And you panic, just for a second. "Is it supposed to be purple? Yes, they taught us that in the birthing classes. Is it always going to have a funky pointy hillbilly head? No, no, that rounds up in a few weeks. Come on, you know this stuff. Relax. Oh yeah, but WTF do I do now? Beats me, me. Relax and smile like everyone else is, and we will figure it out along the way."
Turns out, what you do next is sleep for a few hours while everyone else come in to see what you have made. And when you wake up, the kid is no longer an "it." He's pink, and healthy if still cone headed. At the hospital they teach you all manners of blanket origami, run lots of tests, and boot you out the door just as fast as they can. But home really is where the heart is.
Theo and Dad, three days old - first day at home.
As time passes, you figure out that somewhere deep down you kinda know what is required to keep an infant alive. Diapers (and the various fluids and semi-fluids that fill them) cease to be a disgusting mystery. Swaddling, feeding, cuddling and all the other things that need to happen on a regular basis become routine. You learn that infants are equipped with raptor claws - and I am SO not kidding about that. Somehow the liquid poo fountain that your child just shot several feet across the room (that you now need to clean up and will make you late for work) will be found to be amusing, and not the cause for summary execution that a similar act would have been before parenthood.
Buy the time they are 2 months old, kids have about doubled in size from when they were born. Cone heads are mostly gone, and they fit into their skin much better. As a parent, you find yourself excited over really basic steps. I was totally stoked that Theo was able to hold up his head "early." At this point they are looking at you, and maybe smiling at you, and melting your heart.
Theo, ~2 months old.
They keep growing more everyday, and the parents learn what the kids need at the same pace. By about 6 months old, they are learning and using new skills everyday. They are not infants any more. They still need lots of sleep, but not as much as before. And, oh my do they ever want to move. Theo was slow to figure out crawling but he started trying to crawl at about 6 months. He would be almost 9 months old before he finally got it.
6 months old
They are also very expressive.
Halloween - just starting to get his first teeth in.
1 Year. Nice!
Kids are learning so much at this point that it can be hard to keep up. They are transitioning from crawling to walking to running. My experience so far has been that once kids figure out how to run, they forget everything else. By 1 year, they also look more like little people and less like babies.
As they move through the 18 month period, words start to form. Not anything that can be discerned, mostly, but they are pointing and vocalizing and trying to communicate. They have definite personalities. By 18 months, Theo was captivated by Thomas the Tank Engine - though he ignored all the other TV bits. He had favorite foods, and was starting to demand that we not help him eat. I must admit, I was quite pleased when the little man began showing a large interest in Daddies old cars - primarily the old truck, which he has claimed as his personal jungle gym...
18 months old
He always runs here as soon as he gets out the front door.
As we got nearer to the big 24 months, his eagerness to speak and sing showed up more and more. He understands many more words then he can say, but is learning daily how to better communicate with us. He sings all the time - and more often then not we can recognize the tune. He is even starting to add in some of the words to his favorite songs.
A few days before his second birthday.
Two has been great so far, if only because we don't need to keep counting in months. I never understood the need to count age in months before I was a parent, but it makes sense - especially when they are under a year old. But ~ 18 months it starts being a challenge to remember off hand how many months old he is, and it takes a second to do the math when someone asks: "awwwww, how old is he?" And then I look like a dummy for not knowing right off the top of my head that he is 20 months old - but I know that I am not alone, as I have seen many other toddler parents frantically adding up months. Some parents keep up the age in months thing for a bit longer - but I am happy to be past it.
Parenthood has been a constant challenge. Sickness happens. They take headers into all manner of things that you are not supposed to smack your head into. You have to give yourself an extra hour to go anywhere, and packing for an overnighter can just about fill the car. All of that is balanced out when you see them learning new things on a daily basis. Fatherhood, though at times bewildering and frustrating, has been the most fulfilling challenge that I have met.
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