a milestone

Every day Eamon does something new and interesting: filling containers instead of just emptying them, adding a new sound to his babble, picking out what clothes he wants to wear (that was a surprise) or handing out leaves to the other babies at the playground. They are small advances, but through them we see a person emerging, which is very exciting.

With each new activity, an old one - something I thought he'd do forever -vanishes. And so does my memory of it. Did he ever really wiggle his little fists like other newborns? Was there a time when he couldn't turn over, or lift up his head? Remember when I thought he would never crawl, and when we were in awe of another baby who could pull himself up to stand?

Parenthood does go very quickly, and the memories fade quickly because there is no time to sit down and think about them. You are always living in the present.

Enter the video camera. I have been taking videos - a few minutes each week - since Eamon was born. It is VERY strange to watch the videos, to see Eamon slowly evolve from little worm to someone more upright, someone with a clear opinion who is able to demonstrate many of his needs.

Today I figured out how to download the video onto my computer. I know, I know. Eamon is nearly 14 months old. You would think a grandparent would have wanted to see him in action before now. I learned how to download the video, because I feel like the grandparents deserve to share us in celebrating this milestone:

Walking!

Yeah, this isn't the greatest video, but you can't be choosy about the light and whatnot when you are filming something on the spur of the moment. Also, our floorboards sound sort of like a pig's snort. nice.

To be honest, he did not take his first steps today. He took a few hesitant steps on March 22, and has bridged small distances daily since then. But after a few weeks of trying to carry large objects while crawling, he gave in and saw the advantages to going a little bit further on his two feet.