Twelve Months...Rigby is ONE!
I know every parent must think this, but it really is hard to grasp how fast this year has gone by. And, there are so many emotions surrounding this day. I feel like a teapot, on the edge of spilling over with so many feelings if someone just steamed me up.
Rigby's first year of life marked Jack's first year of "big kid school" as well as our last year in Seattle and my head feels like it is spinning trying to keep itself wrapped around all of these changes and life events. Each of these, significant markers of our time.
Nothing will feel particularly different on this day as Rigby turns ONE, yet the marker of time feels especially bittersweet as our family is complete with Rigby, so all his firsts are also our lasts. For many things, this is a gift, this passage of time. The challenges of sleep and nursing and introducing a new member into our family and learning how to parent two children and adapting to the topsy-turvy ever-changing infant schedule makes me anxious; I am not a particularly great at being a newborn Mama even though I love my babies. I actually felt the change deep inside of me as Rigby began to shed his fragile infancy and move into young toddlerhood. I feel like myself again and it feels good. Yet, there is still something about that infancy period (the smell of newborn skin!), that makes me long for it.
Rigby is such a joy. He smiles freely and often, and his smiles tell so much about his mood. He has smiles that are more like smirks when he is doing something "naughty" or when he sees you for the first time and tries to play it cool (doesn't want to appear surprised). He has smiles of pure joy when he thinks something is funny, this happens especially during games of Peek-a-Boo or something else that he is playing with Jack. He has a smile of relief when you pick him up, get him out of the stroller after a long time of sitting, or when you first come in his room in the morning or after naps. And, he has smiles filled with love and contentment.
Coinciding with his 11 month milestone, Rigby began (sort of) consistently sleeping through the night. He goes to be around 7:30pm and wakes around 6:15am (although the past few nights, he has started waking up again around 3 or 4am, but hopefully these wakings will be short lived). He wakes up from both naps and nighttime in the happiest demeanor, he just sits up and begins playing in his crib and will actually do this for a long while while occasionally staring up at the door waiting for someone to appear. Because of a more consistent and restful night, his naps have also become consistent. He will occasionally take a morning nap around 8:00am yet more often lately he is just skipping this early nap altogether on the weekdays due to Jack's school schedule (he does nap on the weekends from about 9:00am until 11:00am). He takes a long afternoon nap from 12:00pm until 3:00pm on school days, and 2:00-4:00pm on weekends.
His crawl is text book perfect. Hand in front of hand legs following in perfect rhythm as he careens from room to room, usually trying to keep up with someone or making a mad dash for the bathroom, particularly the toilet, before we quickly swoop him up causing a pouty lip and a wail of protest. He actually gets his feelings hurt very easily and will cry when he has things taken away from him, when we close a door to shut him out, or when we say no.
He continues to frequently have something in his hands- he seems to have no preference- and said objects always make it to his mouth so we are on guard ALL the time! A few weeks ago I am pretty sure that I secured my spot for parent of the year when I found a bee in his mouth (thankfully it was dead!) and to make matters worse, it was chewed into two pieces!
Despite his longing to always be on the move, Rigby has shown little interest in standing without assistance or in trying to walk. I guess his good crawl is effective enough in getting him to where he wants to go, although I can see him watch the bigger children on the playground with envy.
He clearly has little conversations with us, but so far the only thing that it’s clear that he’s saying is "Ja-Ja" for Jack Jack and "Dada". The rest of his speech involves a lot of baybay baybay mee sounds. He has has no utterance of Mama, but this is one of my Mother's Day wishes.
When it comes to eating, Rigby is not neat and he is much pickier than Jack ever was. I still haven't learned, but am working on it, that I should just remove all of his clothes during meal times so that he eats in just a diaper and a bib. He seems to like a lot of foods, but the textures are a challenge for him. If we give him small pieces of a pear to eat alone, he will gobble them up. He will also happily eat cottage cheese when fed with a spoon. But, pairing pears with cottage cheese on the same bite elicits his hand swiping the contents from inside his mouth as if he has been poisoned! And, it is difficult to know when certain food textures will be agreeable to him. I just keep trying, hoping one day when he more easily and competently feeds himself, all foods will be accepted. And, maybe more teeth will help; he has six teeth—four on the top and two on the bottom.
One of my favorite moments of the day is watching his face light up when David comes home from work. I also love the way he leans in to our face after being picked up and kisses us right on our mouth with a wide open mouthed kiss. He is such a lover, often crawling over to lay his head on our lap or leaning in for a forehead kiss, a hug, or a snuggle. And his laugh! Jack plays peek-a-boo with him or lets Rigby continuously knock over things while he patiently picks them back up to do it all over again and Rigby laughs and laughs. He loves to give high fives, throw out waves, blow kisses, and clap (and clap and clap...).
I cannot imagine a baby as charming as Rigby. He is so much fun and could not be any sweeter. He brings such happiness to our family, we are all completely smitten. We love you so, Rigby! Happy ONE Year!