Eko Blog: September 2012

Eko has completed his first trip around the sun. One year ago, my water broke while I was working late at the office after a lively weekend of puppet shows and a They Might Be Giants concert under a massive full moon. We would spend the next three days trying a dozen tricks to coax Eko out into the world, but like so many things, he would do this in his own time. Though the pregnancy is a surreal blur in my memory and birth a hazy dream, I still vividly remember when our baby was placed on my belly for the first time, caterwauling away,

warm and wet and so very, very real. "We have a son!" Then he peed on me, and I knew I was a mommy.

Early autumn will forever be Eko's time for us. The katydids creaking in the trees at dusk, the chilly nights, the ripe peaches on our tree, and the first yellow leaves remind us so strikingly of those weeks when we had just become parents. Now he can crawl over to the peaches and take a big bite.

For Eko, it's as if it's a new season. After a summer of crawling around in a diaper, he's not pleased that
we have to tug socks and long-sleeve shirts onto him. Eko spent many sunny August afternoons at Spofford Lake crawling through the sand, exploring the shallows, tasting rocks, and going for dips with us. The weather was so beautiful that we spent a lot of time outside with animals.

Eko rarely watches tv and is often ambivalent about what he sees, but the floppy baby animals on his petting farm video fascinate him! So this month we introduced him to farms. He happily waved to the llama at Stonewall Farm and squealed with delight as he tried to pet the chicks at the Retreat Farm. Even the Chelsea Royal Diner had pens of pigs, turkeys, and chickens that awed him. He likes watching dogs being walked, birds in the sky, and butterflies, but his adoration of our cat Sasha grows exponentially.

This month Eko became an expert kisser, even blowing a kiss once. The first time she met him, our friend Leora got a slimy kiss right on the nose. The passenger window of our car has lip marks on it from where Eko was kissing Oma through the glass. And while he'll plant a wet one on mama, daddy, and even the yoga ball, he especially loves to kiss Sasha.

She endures this for awhile, but it was only a matter of time before she gave him a swipe. Eko got his first scratches, but no love was lost between them. He still crawls after her any chance he gets, excitedly whispering "szaza kee kah"—and she doesn't run away.

Eko hasn't added a lot of language to his repertoire, but he continues to surprise us with the tones and sounds he mimics while we're talking. He's signs 'more' during meal times and even, for a day, signed 'milk', though he clearly feels that tugging at mom's shirt is a much faster way to communicate this particular desire. It's amazing realizing how much he already understands. If I ask, "Do you want boo?" his face lights up. He responds to all kinds of simple questions and requests.

When asked to point to mama's nose or mouth, he often does so rapidly, though sometimes he point's to daddy's instead.

It's fascinating watching him examine and figure things out. He turns off the light switch before each nap, and surprised himself when he turned on the white noise machine. After just a few corrections, he figured out the 'right' and 'wrong' way to drink from his sippy cup, and now always turns the spout the way that lets the water through best.

Eko is becoming more and more fun to play with. We got him his first set of wooden blocks, though at this point it's debatable who has more fun with them. We build towers and Eko eagerly knocks them down. Legos, however, are still more fun to chew on or carry around. He loves music and shaker toys, playing his xylophone with anything at hand, and rattling canisters of beans. If we start a beat, he'll often dance.

He entertains himself with games of his own devising. One afternoon he would painstakingly hold two toys in one hand and then tap all of the books within reach. Then he upped the ante to three toys. These patterns delight him. He flips through his books on his own, unfolding the 'peekaboo' pages, petting (and kissing) the animals in the touch-and-feel books. Another of his self-made games is chase-the-jingle-ball. He'll toss the ball, watch it roll and jingle across the room, then race after it. When he tires of entertaining himself, he crawls over to us for a cuddle.

Curiosity drives him. He explores any cupboard and drawer he can access (speeding up our baby proofing), loves to watch us as we cook, brush our teeth, and tie our shoes. He climbs anything, whether it's into a basket of laundry, up a staircase, a chair, or even right up our chests as we hold him. He loves to explore the garden beds when we pick veggies. He eagerly pulls off cherry tomatoes, green or ripe, and chews on them, spitting them out after the first satisfying 'pop'.

He likes teething on the giant green beans, too. He seems to be cutting all four of the first molars at once and is always chewing on a spoon or a toothbrush, anything that can get to those hard-to-reach sore spots.

Eko is crawling faster and standing with more certainty every day. He's wowed us with a few 'free stands' that show he's beginning to master balance. His beloved Johnny Jump Up has become passé.

The last time he was in it, he just spun in slow circles, acting bored. Locomotion is much more exciting. We often take Eko for walks in the woods, but this month he began taking us for walks. He loves to crawl along the path as we follow, climbing up the banks, shuffling through the leaves, even skinny-dipping in the stream.

Eko is making more associations each day. He continues to whip around backwards to lower himself down stairs, off the couch, or down a small hill. To his father's initial fright, Eko discovered a tunnel behind our "floored" futon - his own little hiding spot. He also remembers where things are outside. When we go for rambles around the lawn, anytime we come within fifty feet of the pond (fun to splash) or the driveway (good rocks to chew) he makes a rapid b-line for them, even before he can see them.

Another neat association happened while we were reading. He has a favorite "Llama llama" baby book that he's heard a thousand times. I was reading a new 'Llama llama' from the library. He didn't seem very interested and wandered off. I kept reading. When I looked up, I saw that he had gone to his bookshelf and picked out his one and only Llama llama book from all of the other books and placed it at my feet. I was so impressed that I read it to him over and over til he had his fill. Later, while we ate breakfast, Eko pointed at the coffee mug with Sasha's kitten photo and said, "Szada kee kah!" It blows our minds.

Eko hasn't shown any of the 1-year shyness, so it's especially exciting that we've begun attending Sophia's Hearth again. It was so much fun to see what a huge difference three months away meant.

He can now climb and crawl over all of the play structures and really engages with the kids and other parents. On our first day back, we found Eko had cornered his pal and was happily kissing him! He's a quick rascal. During the new snack time, Eko snuck over to the teacher's basket and dumped her pitcher of water onto the rug, then started to play in the puddle. She tried to move it onto a nearby surface while we mopped it up, but Eko got right into that, too. He doesn't quickly forget about contraband and knows when he's into something he shouldn't be.

At Eko's one-year checkup, we learned his growth is slowing down a little. He's getting taller and skinnier. With the checkup comes the first blood draw. We had heard nightmare stories about this from other parents, but remarkably Eko sailed through it. Either he's a mellow kid, or we had an excellent phlebotomist. Daddy, on the other hand, had to fast the night before for his blood draw. He was pale and faint and given a cool cloth

for his neck while Eko got a sticker for bravery.

Jay is an avid follower of politics and with the election season heating up Eko is at his side watching debates and conventions online. He clapped and waved as we watched the DNC, and helped his daddy vote in the NH state primary. He was very excited to get his hands on the the "I Voted" sticker.

Eko's first birthday was a gorgeous hot autumn day with bright blue skies. We went out to breakfast with Oma and Grandpa before they headed south to his Great-Grandmother's memorial in Long Island. We began what may become a tradition of hiking mountains on birthdays, taking him up Putney Mt. As we hiked, Jay said, "Eko's first birthday is like our Katahdin." When we reached Mt. Katahdin, it was the end of the

Appalachian Trail, though the mountains just kept going on and on. We had completely become thru-hikers. Now, after our year of baby, we have completely transformed into parents and our family has found its rhythm. The routines and troubleshooting are second nature. The doubts and fears have mellowed to quiet confidence and trust in one another's parenting skills.

As we reached the summit of Putney Mt, we found that the hawk and eagle migration was in full swing. Along with a dozen bird enthusiasts, we saw several hawks flying way high up in the blue. While Eko clambered on the rocks, a huge bald eagle circled right above us.

For us, birthdays are a time to celebrate growth. We love stuff and get Eko neat toys when the mood strikes or he shows a particular new interest, but intend to keep birthdays focused on new experiences. This year, we're taking Eko to an aquarium when we visit our family in NYC. He'll love the bright colors, the water, and the movements of the animals.

We wistfully announce that Eko's first birthday signals the completion of the 'Eko by the day' photo project. If we ever feel like the time 'flew by,' all we have to do is scroll through 367 moments of Eko's first year of incredible transformation. We'll both really miss the project, but there's some relief in simply enjoying the moment without worrying about documenting it (there will still be plenty of that). Eko Songs are too much fun to stop, but the Eko Blog will also transform from a monthly baby-book style update to more informal stories and photo essays.

A year ago today we were sitting in bed with Eko learning how to read his cries, realizing how content he was when he slept next to us, and learning to listen to him. That tiny baby has grown into a strong, curious, loving, and strong-willed little person. Though we sometimes miss the little bundle of baby-squish he once was, we're usually having too much fun chasing after him to stay wistful for long.

Check out the
Eko by-the-day slideshow
and

weekly header project
and
Eko Song playlist