The Age of Suprise

Roddie has kind of surprised us recently… suddenly, he’s no longer a baby, but a little boy! Of course the change has been gradual, and he’s 14 months old after all, but there have been a few days recently where I was acutely aware that my baby boy is no more… well, he’ll always be my baby boy (sorry Rod!) even though he’s not a baby any more. We met a new biker chick recently, baby Emily was just one month old – and I could barely remember Roddie (or Norah for that matter) being that small. I also saw a lady carrying a very small baby at church this weekend and looked down at Roddie who was sitting scribbling on a piece of paper and thought – wow! Anyway, it’s bound to happen and of course I am happy that he is growing and developing like he should, but the extent of it all just kind of took me by surprise! Here are a few examples from the past few days:

• Roddie doesn’t like his high chair anymore! He was getting impatient with it, so I tried him in the booster seat yesterday – he happily colored (yes, with crayons and paper) for 20-30 minutes yesterday while I worked on tidying up the kitchen. He didn’t even eat any crayons and hardly got any on the table! Then, this morning, after following Norah and I out to the kitchen on my request, he walked right over to it and tried to climb up (paid no attention to the highchair which is still there) He ate his breakfast (cheerios, in a bowl, with milk) with a spoon as happy as can be. *sniff*
• Not only can he run around the yard (and he does, typically away from me!) but he can climb up the ladder and down the slide, all.by.himself!!! He started out yesterday with going face-first, but after a little coaching, he now turns himself around so he’s sitting and flies down the slide! He LOVES it! He can also climb all the way UP the slide (well, almost, I need to help him at the very end, and of course spot him!)
• We went to a fall festival thing the other day, where there was a Bengal tiger demonstration. Matt grabbed Norah and put her on his shoulders so she could see. I was standing there with Roddie, who was in the stroller and could see nothing but knees, and realized that when Norah was his age, we would have been all over showing her the tigers! So I picked him up and put him on my shoulders and sure enough, he was enthralled, maybe even moreso than Norah.
• We were having a great time playing outside yesterday while Matt worked on refinishing our front door. When snack time rolled around, Norah requested a picnic. So I grabbed a blanket, milks for everyone and a few things to nibble on, including a ziplock bag that had some animal crackers in it. We sat in the warm sun near the back door and enjoyed our snack. Roddie took the ziplock, and I thought he wanted another cookie, so I opened it for him… apparently that wasn’t what he wanted, since he closed it up again. Then, he took off across the yard. I grabbed him and brought him back, but off he went again, towards Matt who was out by the shed, working on the door. I decided that I’d just let him go and see what he was up to, and lo and behold, he headed straight towards Matt, and proceeded to offer him some cookies! Such a sweet boy!

I guess we shouldn't have been surprised, being "experienced" parents and all, but the 2nd kid is a lot more difficult to keep track of in the same level of detail as the first, and he just caught us by surprise!