a foray into parenthood: June 2012

All grown up and walking

I looked at Safia the other day and had the realization that we no longer have a baby, we have a little girl. A walking, talking, opinion-having little girl. It shouldn’t have come as a surprise, but somehow it was looking at our little baby who is no longer a baby. As she learned to walk, and it took her a while to get there as she went through cyclical periods of independence and extreme clinginess, it seemed that she was scared of what this newest stage might mean for her. She’s since found her feet, and with that, she’s begun to discover a whole new world – a world of exploration, a world of wonder, and a world of discovery. It’s also a whole new world for us, a world of constant attention, a world of temper-tantrums (earlier than we expected), a world of running from here to there, and a world where sitting is a thing of the past.

Puzzle fun!

In the last month or so she’s also begun communicating with us more and more. She is becoming proficient with sign language – at least her version of sign language, often accompanied with the word. She can tell us she wants more, she’s all done, she’s starting to request certain foods, and activities, her favorite by far is “outside,” followed closely by milk. Her communication abilities have both alleviated and increased all of our frustrations. She can tell us what she wants, most of the time, but she doesn’t have much patience for those time when we either can’t figure out what she wants, or when we want her to do something different from what she wants to do.

Easter kisses!

In other news, Rube is out for the summer and we’ve entered into a whole new world of existence. The day school ended we all piled into the car and headed to DC for just over a week. We ate lots of good food, visited with lots of people, relaxed, and enjoyed ourselves. We spent a few days on the Chesapeake Bay - Safia discovered how much she loves the water, and we found out how much more fun the beach is with a one year old. She would have stayed in the water all day if we didn’t drag her out. We wanted to stay longer, but had to get back for Safia to start swim lessons. Safia was a bit apprehensive of the pool at first, but once she realized it was just a smaller version of the bay, she’s loved every minute of it. She’s not caught onto to the idea that we’re supposed to be doing certain things at certain times but as long as she’s in perpetual motion she’s happy.

Practicing her Mandolin skills

Rube being out for the summer has also allowed for some familial structural changes – mainly he’s taken over for as the primary caregiver for Safia and general house maintenance, while I’ve tried to catch up on all the work that I’ve let slide the past year. The first week we were incredibly productive – for me, it was amazing how much work I could get done when I could get up and go to work without having to worry about getting Safia ready and getting her to daycare, and picking her up. For both of us, it was amazing how much we could accomplish around the house when one of us was home full time. Rube and Safia have been having an amazing time. They’ve been playing hard, learning lots, and having more fun than you could possibly imagine. After the first week, we settled into a more reasonable routine of getting things done, and balancing our lives the best we can - just like we’ve always done.