So many 'firsts' are happening in our lives these days. I feel compelled to somehow keep track of them all, but easily overwhelmed. So should I remember the first time Fina ate a bean? Or what Gretchen's first words were? How about the first time Gretchen said something so incredibly rude that I wondered whose child she was? Will they want to know when they get older? Here are some 'firsts' that are in my immediate memory. Please note that I've become enamored with lists since reading the Lisa Lutz Spellman Files book!
Gretchen's firsts
1st walk 9 months
1st words cat, banana
1st use of toilet 10 months..first time we could say she was potty trained 2 1/2 years old
1st visit to ER from climbing at the park on something that was for much older kids
1st time spending the night away from home was when Fina was born
1st trike ride summer 2010
1st ride on bike with training wheels summer 2010
1st close friend-Luke Howard
1st time facing forward in car seat 1 year old
Most of the time she is in the 20th % for weight and 60th % for height
1st airplane ride-9months to see California relatives
saying things like "that is a lovely cottage" 2 1/2 years
Telling mommy how to drive 2 1/2 years
Stomping feet and slamming bedroom door 2 1/2 years
Wanting time to read books on her own 1 1/2 years
Asking nicely or rudely for privacy 2 1/2 years
Fina
eating all foods at 6 months
sitting up well 6 months
crawling army style 6 month
So seriously Fina really didn't start doing anything all that interesting to anyone but her parents and relatives until just a short time ago. We like to refer to this as the end of the 'luggage' stage of baby development. Most of these things I've listed are from this summer 2010. It's been a busy crazy summer of growing up. I had a friend who said that being a parent is like dying 117 times a day. When I see Gretchen riding down the sidewalk on her bike or Fina crawling all over and playing with toys, it's this strange strange mixture of sadness, pride, and extreme joy that sort of is like dying and being born again in a moment. I think that these highly emotional vivid moments will be forever in my memory, but so much is happening that there's not enough room for all of it. So, we will continue with lists, but always know that the moment something is happening cannot be recreated in words.
