8 months ago Tristan, my second son was born. Despite everything that went on at the first, he is growing like a weed and doing all of the normal things that babies should be doing. Even though he is my 4th child and I have watched the other three go through these same phases and it always amazes me that A- human babies do the same things as they develop, and B- they are constantly intrigued and amazed with the world.
Little brains are empty but tend to fill up with everything even though short term memory is really short. String gets forgotten for toes, they get forgotten for remote controls, they get forgotten for the phone when it rings. And put Mom on the speaker phone from work and the kid can’t figure it out.
Another fun toy: Ceiling fans. Turn one of those on and it is good for at least a few minutes. It is fun watching Tristan learning to rollover and try to crawl. That should be sometime this week if it keeps going like it is. It does really make me reflect on my other kids and how they developed the same way. And differently!
Readers of this blog now know that my oldest is 10 going on 23. Thinking back 10 years to when she was rolling over and trying to crawl puts somewhat of a sad smile on my face. I love to remember all of them doing the same things but knowing that this is the last one is kind of sad. Watching the baby jump up and down in the exer-saucer reminds me of my other son. And how this will be the last one to use it….for a while.
The next 8 month old I will be observing will be my Grandchild, and good grief I am starting to think I am getting older. I still feel like a kid but, wow. So for now, I will be watching every tiny move that Tristan makes. I have been very lucky to have been home to watch my kids grow up. Seeing most of their milestones has been a fantastic experience that I can’t recommend highly enough.
It is fantastic even if you are not home watching the kids, it is exciting to go from something that just cries and poops to one that plays and is watching everything around his world with a smile to one who can do things for you and take the garbage cans out. Benefits to having older kids even though I don’t trust them to mow the lawn; my wife wants to mow patterns and words into the lawn and I am not having any of that.
But back to the baby, we notice that he (like the others) finds EVERYTHING interesting. Small bits of paper, shoes, and socks are great chew toys and I am convinced that it gives them a leg up on imagination later in life. Case study: my nephew vs Cameron my 7 year old. Nephew: loves sea life and dinosaurs. Will play with them only how they were meant to be played with. Cameron: loves cars and anything with wheels. Plays with anything and everything in some way that makes them go fast and crash or transform into something else. Drives my nephew nuts when a tyrannosaurus is riding a truck and jumps off to kill ninjas before the Army takes the dinosaur out.
Imagination rocks, I can’t wait to get him writing. My 4 year old has a great imagination as well, the tales she was spinning for the kidney clinic staff the other day were hilarious. The doctor was literally wiping his eyes from laughing so hard at this 4 year old in a princess dress. I can only hope that Tristan will follow suit and be creative, just because we let him wander around his world and explore as long as he is safe about it.
I can’t wait for the long term ride that this is becoming. Thanks for dropping by folks, there will be more to come I am sure.
-Justin
PS. I am working on a program that will be part instruction, part support group, part mastermind group and all about being a stay at home dad, released in modules until a whole book is finished. Look for more details to come and let me know if you are interested in joining me. Thanks again.
