Progress
I find it so interesting to witness Jude’s progression through life. He’s the first child who I’ve been with consistently from his birth to his present. I have cousins who are younger than me, but most of them have always live four or more hours driving distance away. While it was always neat to note how their interests changed and how much they had grown from visit to visit, I simply didn’t have the opportunity to witness life like I do now.
There was a time when Jude couldn’t hold up his head; then he couldn’t crawl. In the blink of an eye he was walking, then running, then jumping and climbing. Now he walks more surefootedly, runs faster, and jumps and climbs higher than ever before. Suddenly he can throw balls and rocks and Frisbees, swing his whiffle ball bat, and do somersaults with ease.
In the beginning, Josh and I set our alarm clock for every two and a half hours during the night so that I could wake up and feed Jude. Then we stretched it out to every three hours, then three and a half, and finally we let him wake on his own to nurse. For a long while he woke up (what seemed like) every two to three hours of his own accord. Recently he has been sleeping for long stretches during the night–another life progression.
Jude used to eat whatever we put in front of him. Now he has desires and cravings all his own. If given the choice between pizza and pasta, he’ll almost always pick both. *smile* Some days he wants apples and other days, pears. When he watches a movie, he wants popcorn to munch on. Upon waking in the morning, he doesn’t want breakfast straight away; instead he wants snacks. He so firmly know what he does want and what he doesn’t that he’ll even occasionally turn down the offer of a smoothie.
Josh and I are progressing through life as well. Josh is figuring out what it is he’s passionate about. His daily bike rides to and from work are slowly transforming him into a real-life bike guy. I’m making progress on a reading list that’s as long as my leg. My yoga practices are becoming both easier and more challenging as I devote time to them each day. For both Josh and I, parenting gently and without coercion is an ideal that we’re making slow progress on.
I have often felt like I didn’t take enough time to be in the present before Jude was born. If you were to ask me what life was like before he made his entrance into this world, I’m not sure I could answer you. As I find myself being more and more aware of what’s going on right now, I also find myself more and more amazed at how we move along our journey of life: with simple, yet amazing, baby steps.