Felix turned One and that in and of itself makes my heart pound in awe of how time is speeding by me. In my minds eye I can still conjure up the image of him as a squishy blob of a newborn doing nothing but slowly stretching his limbs, sleeping, eating and well...pooping. And then I look up and I've got this busy little boy in front of me walking around the house and trying his hardest to break into a run at times. Saying words like car, ball, balloon, willow, book, and many other made up words in his own language. And most definitely understanding some of the things I ask him to do...like "shut the door, please." "Bring me that brush." "Can you put that water bottle right there for mommy?" "Do you want to put your shoes on?" and more.
We celebrated his first birthday with a couple of small gifts when he woke up and then eating a giant belgium waffle. Half of it ended up on the ground and then very quickly made it's way into Willow's mouth. She was celebrating his birthday too, I guess. Felix took two good naps throughout the day and we ran a couple errands, and visited barnes and noble for a bit, but other than that I basically just sat on the floor playing with him all day, letting him do whatever he wanted...I mean - it was his big day! You only turn one once.
The BIG celebration came on Saturday when we had over 40 people come to celebrate our little man. He did so wonderfully wandering through the adult legs in our kitchen, playing with the other kids, begging for snacks and drinks and to be held. Then we let him do a smash cake (a vanilla one with blue frosting that I made for him). He gingerly played in the icing for a minute or two, but once I showed him that he could eat it, his eyes got really big and he dug right in...still gently, but with both hands full of blue icing and cake. It was the sweetest thing.
Some people may have felt stressed having so many people (including a handful of rambunctious children) in their tiny condo, but I LOVED it. The stress of getting the house clean is never my favorite, but once the food is out and there are people wall to wall chatting and deepening friendships, my heart is full. I am energized and I'm in my element.
We followed up our crazy busy Saturday celebration with more people filling our living room for most of the day on Sunday to watch Football. No agenda other than hanging out with a game on in the background. This is the root of community. Spending time together. Being around one another for long periods of time. Making memories. Making conversation. In the age of facebook and cell phones, breaking down the barrier of the computer screen and text message friendship for real face-to-face interaction is when life happens. It was a beautiful thing.
Little guy! I'm dying over that hat and his flannel! Sheesh!
ReplyDeleteHappy birthday, Felix!