Our little boy turns one today! While I was feeling rather melancholy about the whole thing earlier in the week, today I am just so thankful for his presence in my life — his chubby cheeks, his joyful belly laugh, his antics, and his bright little eyes that still look up at me with pure love. I’m looking forward to what the coming year will bring, and especially to hearing what this little guy has to say when he starts to talk!
Happy Birthday, Zane!
This is a collection of images from the last month before Zane turns one. Although most childhood development experts consider a person an “infant” until they are 18 months old, there is something about that stark, vertical line — 1 — that is so symbolic and undeniable. It is the signpost that marks the turn away from babyhood toward the next phase of life. Of course, he’s still a baby to me, but he is now a toddling, babbling, tantrum-throwing, solid food-eating, nighttime-sleeping type of baby. In other words, he’s becoming a person.
To hold both the elation of watching him grow and the devastation of knowing I cannot reverse it, simultaneously in my heart, is a difficult task. I love being a mother, and it brings me more joy than anything I have ever done. That doesn’t mean it always brings me happiness — that is something I have to create for myself — but it does bring me immeasurable joy, and my heart swells with gratitude when I think of how blessed I am to be able to share so many precious moments of my life with my children. I wish I could keep them small and close to me indefinitely, but that would deprive them of their own journey. Instead, I must helplessly, but with pride, watch them crawl, toddle, and then run, into the future, toward the next signpost.
Back in October, I posted about a DIY project I wanted to try: upcycling an old piece of furniture into a play kitchen. Like most things in my life, it went on the backburner (no pun intended) while I attended to more pressing matters. However, our little guy is going to be turning 1 next month (!), and I really wanted to give him a play kitchen for his birthday. He LOVES to watch me cook, and now that he is pretty mobile, I thought he might like to have a little place of his own to practice his culinary skills.
This morning, I randomly thought of this old TV stand that has been sitting in our basement, unused, since we moved. The minute I brought it upstairs, I knew I had found just the right thing to make Zane’s kitchen.
As you can see, it is the perfect height for a little one. Here is Zane giving it a test run.
And, here is a terribly rendered Photoshop mock-up of what I hope it will look like when it’s done. I’m not going to get too fancy with oven doors and all that jazz. I’m just going to have some cute curtains and some baskets underneath where he can store his “food” and dishes. That way, there will be no pinched fingers. We can upgrade to something fancier when he gets bigger. Also, the sink fixtures in this photo are way fancier than what I am planning to use.
I think he will love it, and I can’t wait to work on it.
UPDATE 8/23/2012: We finished the kitchen just in time for Zane’s birthday!
And, here’s a little video of the kitchen “in use.”
My apologies for having disappeared from this space. It seems that when you’re home with TWO kids, things get a lot busier! In any case, we’ve been spending our days at the town pool, trying to beat the heat. And, one of us has gained a new skill!
Hope you are all enjoying your summer, and I’ll try to be better about posting!
My apologies for my absence here as of late. We have been very busy getting ready for this past weekend’s performances. My daughter takes ballet at Moco Arts in Keene and this year they performed Alice in Wonderland. Lillia was a wicket in the croquet scene.
It was a LONG weekend, and there were several tearful moments, but she made it through all three shows. I am so proud of her.
This was a big step for her, a real growing up experience. She was backstage all weekend without me, and it really required her to step out of her comfort zone (and I had to step out of mine, too).
Today is the last day of school for the year. I couldn’t be happier. I’m so looking forward to having my little girl home for the summer, and maybe even next year (if we decide to homeschool). Hopefully, I’ll be able to get back to blogging regularly again soon.