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1.10.2017

ten months, and green beans in the toilet

Last week I woke to find a can of green beans in the toilet.
He must've put it there while we were busy unpacking groceries into the pantry the night before.
He wakes to find new things everyday - his tongue, another step, coffee grounds at the top of the trash.

There is so much I love about this stage.

I love it most, I think, because his future childhood is less an abstraction than the others were. I know that, no matter how much it feels possible, it will not take twenty years for the afternoon to pass. I know, if we are lucky, he will grow out of these early stages, grow out of putting cans in the commode and grow out of wearing diapers and grow through getting teeth and grow into so many good things.  And I know I will miss this baby.

I love this stage, though not ambivalently. The middle of the night is not my favorite, but I understand how alarming it can feel to be wide awake in the long, lonely night.  Plus, there is the sweet milky groping and the moonlit face, the soft, clean jammies and the fragrant scalp.

I love this stage and this season of too little sleep and not enough supervision, and I love him.

3 comments:

  1. No wonder his face fills with delight when you re-enter the room! I love how he follows after his father and big brothers too.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Jenni Baby,
    Someone recently told me...taking care of a baby (like Hank) was a lot like being responsible for a really drunk friend...
    "Hey, please, you've gotta listen to me."
    "Be careful...you could get hurt doing that."
    "That's really not funny."
    "Can you make it to the toilet?"

    Got any more?

    L2A

    ReplyDelete
  3. "Did you shit your pants again?"
    "That better be drool on the floor."
    "Dangit Hank! What were you... When did... awww man...gross."
    "Wait! Lemme get the camera!"

    -Poppy's son-in-law

    ReplyDelete