Today Archer was found standing in his crib for the first time after a nap, babbling away and smiling in the wake of his achievement.
Today Archer waved at the receptionist at the pediatrician and when she waved back he smashed his face into my chest, giggling.
Today Archer took a couple awkward steps from the ottoman to my arms and then fell on his head. He screamed and then got back up to do it again.
Today Archer kissed me square on the lips when I was crying as if to say, "buck up, mommy. I love you!" and then he kissed me again and again until I stopped crying and had to laugh. He laughed too.
My baby is becoming a boy. How? I don't know. It never occurred to me until now that what is happening is happening so fast. I want to frame every day and hold every moment up for the world to see how much good and beauty there is and that no matter what is happening, where the tears have come from or what the future holds, there is newness and hope and good. Everywhere there is good.
If it wasn't for Archer I don't think I would be able to see everything as I do. He makes me fearless. His kisses are like shields. I am truly grateful.
GGC
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Yesterday and the Days Before
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2006
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May
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- The Bedtime Wars: Heed the Omen
- Online Book Tour: Reading with Babies, Toddlers an...
- C-Sections Are The New Black
- The Snail Collector: A PTSF Repost
- Goodbye Aunts, Hello Ants Goodbye.
- Archer's Birthday in Photos
- A Year of Epiphanies
- Archer's Arrival: Becoming Two People Overnight
- Eye'm Loving
- MSN Represent
- Epiblogues: Fallen Idols
- He's a Screamer, Ladies and Gents...
- Raising the Bar
- The *Sisterhood of the Traveling Rants
- To all the Mothers I have Loved Before...
- Standing For Our Right
- This is Not my Home
- I Guess This is Growing Up
- Archer's Week in Photos
- Fallen Idols
- The Silent Archer Films
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May
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34 comments:
Aren't little boys wonderful?
Congratulations to Archer on his first steps - WOW!
Oh my! I feel the exact same way about my Little Guy. He's 10 mos and it seems like overnight he has turned from a baby into a little man. Everything is happening so fast. I wish I could freeze frame these moments and hold onto them just a little longer before they slip away.
What beautiful scenes you have painted here. Oh it's too sweet to watch them grow moment to moment. 6 months, 9 days and counting over here...
Loved your post, you just captured it. I remember right around 9-10 months suddenly feeling the same way. Like I just wanted it to slow way down so I could really enjoy every second. It's amazing that it gets even better.
A boy - but a sweet, cute, loving, and sensitive one at that.
Ain't life grand?!
"His kisses are like shields," great line!!
That is so beautiful and heartbreaking!
Sweet post! Exciting times are afoot.
Aw, that's nice.
The other day my 9 month old started puckering up his lips to kiss and making the little kissy noise. Melted me completley.
Last week, I was watching a TV show that moved me to tears, and my 2 year old son looked at me for a few moments, crawled into my lap, said, "I sowwy, Mama," and kissed me on the lips. Then he got down, grabbed the box of wet wipes, crawled back up and handed me a wipe from the box, instructing me to "blow". He stayed on my lap until the end of the show, reassuringly patting my arms that were wrapped around him. If you figure out how to frame the days, let me know. I could use that trick.
Dude.
"His kisses are like shields."
I am not exaggerating, nor am I playing kissy-faced butt smooch when I say that you are one of my favorite writers.
In my post about the recent letter-to-the-editor frenzy that I was involved in, I edited out a paragraph (didn't want to disrupt flow of the post and all) from one of those letters, in which I said that the best writing on motherhood/parenthood/etc was, in my opinion, in the blogosphere - not on the newsstands or bookstores.
You prove my point.
It's amazing, isn't it? I love this time, watching them become little people in their own right. The physical development and their bravery in pushing themselves is both scary and so cool. The language development is fascinating. And watching their little personalities bloom makes your heart expand with pride. sigh. While I don't miss babyhood at all, I will miss the toddler years when they pass.
This is my first comment however I have been reading your blog for months now. My son will be a year on May 9th and I totally feel the exact same way to be able to try to freeze each day, and cherish the moments that are happening and anticipate the many to come. I love reading your stories and your pictures of Archer. Your writing is wonderful and you capture exactly how you feel through your words. My little guy has never been a cuddly baby, but now he is and I love those moments when he puts his arms around my neck and gives me slobbery wet kisses and squeezes tight then relax and rest on my shoulder. He did that one this mornign before I had to leave for work and it melted me.
Wow! That was spectacular.
There are moments I want to put into a bottle and save for later.
Yay for your son's new achievements! The wobbly first steps are so precious.
What an absolutely captivating, gorgeous post. I'm with 2badladies: THIS is poetry.
*sniff sniff*
I need a tissue. :P
Doesn't it feel like you just had him like two weeks ago? It seems like you blink and all of a sudden they are on to new things. Gosh, your little boy is getting so big.
I LOVE that when my little man would wave and then if someone waved back, he would bury his head in my chest.
Your Archer doing that melted my heart.
It's still always amusing to me when you try to describe that to someone who doesn't have children. They seem to get it. But, they can't really, until they have one of their own.
It's unbelievable and completely indescribable. I'm glad you are living it to it's fullest.
Thanks for the reminder to a mom whose youngest is now six. It does go fast. You'll be amazed how fast when you're looking back at these photos with a six year old Archer and it seems like last week that you took them.
You are so right, mama. Those kisses are shields!
Today Archer... he's one excellent guy.
So beautiful. I loved your post.
I remember feeling exactly the same way. And every new stage he reaches, I want to hold on to and not let him grow. But it just keeps getting better and better.
Archer has a great mom :)
I've been reading your blog for some time now, and this is the first time I write a comment. I'm a first time mom of a 3-month old girl, of whom I have fallen in love since day one. I loved the way you describe this precious moments. As Tammy said, these are things that before having a baby I 'understood', but now that I do have one I really feel my life has changed (for good) in a way that is almost impossible to describe.
When they learn to kiss you feel like your heart will explode from happiness. Those kisses can make all the bad things go away.
This post was beautiful.
big love, baby.
that is so scary, awesome, amazing, terrifying, heartbreaking, overjoying, and more!
especially b/c it all happened in one day
great post, you extracted perfectly so many of the joys of being a parent...
I've found that every stage seems like the greatest, but I still miss what's gone...I think one of the hardest things about parenting is that you can't ignore the passage of time.
Of course, some of it takes the Yossarian theory to new heights--truly, when you're monumentally bored with reading Rolie Polie Olie for the 500th time, time crawls. So the minutes can drag--how do the months go so fast?
I feel the same way about my daughter, Leah. Whenever I'm having one of those days where all I want to do is cry...she smiles and I'm okay for that moment. Or when I want to scream...I see her and I just can't.
Bravo, GGC. We all find our own ways through tough times, but Archer shows you/us the best reason to get through the hard times. You know?
First of all, I just love the name Archer.
Isn't it amazing how babies, when they learn to walk, can literally fall down and smack their head on the concrete, but that doesn't stop them from getting up and going again?
You are right. Maybe we can learn something from our babies...
Because, if I, let's say, fell off a skateboard and smashed my head at my age, I'm pretty sure I wouldn't try it again..
Also, when I have a bad day, I usually sleep with Rowan, The Dictator. It makes everything better.
Also, what color are his eyes? They look amazing..
I am tearing up...because I know how you've concerned you've been about the whole not crawling early thing, and because I've met him and can picture him, and because I've met you and can just picture your total joy and delight at all these accomplishments, and because in a couple weeks, I'm going to be back there and Thalia and Archer are going to spend an entire weekend waving at each other.
I loved your post especially since it hits home for me. My little one is 25 days away from turning a year old and it astounds me how quickly the time has flown especially when the first 8 weeks of colic hell felt like they would never end.
Thanks for the reminder of how precious all their first are and how our children remind us of the little things in life.
Thank you for such an amazing post. I confess I had it in my head when I wrote my post about Connor the other day. It goes sooo fast, and while you wish you could just stay in this moment awhile longer, you can't wait to see what the future brings. Heartbreaking and heartbursting all the same time...
That is so sweet (and totally precious he gave you kisses just when you needed it!) I'm constantly baffled by how Cricket grows up over night. 10 months already WTF?
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