Tuesday, April 24, 2007

Guess who's 1!




Our strapping Soul-boy is one-year-old. We celebrated at our home on Saturday with a pancake breakfast. His morning nap is usually 8:30-11:30, but I decided to wake him at 10:00 (halfway through HIS party) so the celebrants could at least see the boy! I suppose it was more for the older siblings, parents and friends anyway:). He seemed to absorb that something special was happening when we all looked at him and broke into song, a cheery one with HIS name in it.

The first 6 months of his life flew by. He SLEPT ALL THE TIME. Seriously. He was our "4-naps- a-day" boy for 6 months. When he was awake, he was nursing or smiling. Then he went to 3 naps and now he takes two long ones: morning 8:30-11:30 and afternoon 1:30-4:30. His daddy is 6 foot 8 inches, so he was doing a whole lot of growing in his first year and needed sleep and food.

And now he is walking, and playing ball, waving "goodbye" and "hello", signing "more" "food" "milk," and fully weaned (2 days before his birthday). He drinks locally collected goat's milk and eats a pureed version of whatever we're eating.

When Alethea was younger, birds and fairies were an emerging theme in her life. They continue to hold symbolism for her, and for us, as we think about her character and personality and about our hopes for her. I will write more on that later.

And for Solomon, it is rocketships. Over the last 3 months, we've been given a lot of "Rocket Ship" stuff: sweatshirt, pajamas, t-shirts, robeez shoes. I started to notice this last month after I had folded and put away a load of laundry. I started thinking about this symbol and have chatted about it with my husband.

Astronaunts are dreamers and visionaries. They have to believe that the moon and the planets exist, that they can walk on the moon, that they can arrive, can survive. They have to be brave and willing to go "where [few] men have gone before." They have to stay calm under alarming circumstances. It's important that they are adaptable within varying environments and unafraid of change. They have to prepare meticulously for a journey into darkness, hoping to find what they are looking for. Astronaunts also carry the hope of those they leave behind as they shoot toward the sky.

Solomon is very calm yet determined. He has a quiet, inquisitive gaze. He seems to set the atmosphere with his strength and peacefulness and doesn't seem to be swayed by unrest or chaos; he remains unruffled by what is happening around him.

We believe he has the heart of an astronaunt. We believe he will have a unique vision in his life, that he will want to pursue at all costs. And we will be right behind him, cheering for him at each step of the way.

It seems a lot to put on a little one-year-old! I suppose to balance these high hopes and prayers we have a lot of simple joy in being his parents and in seeing how he surprises us! We feel immense joy in seeing our children grow and deepen and become who they are meant to be. And we are thankful for this first year in his life.

11 comments:

Rach said...

What a deliciously scrummy young man! You just want to pick him up and hug him!
Hold on to your high hopes and enjoy each day.

Aimee said...

what a cutie...he looks SO much like you!!
My lil guy is will be one next week...we will be at the beach and look forward to celebrating it there!

NABR said...

so precious.... thank you for the photographs and the reflections on these unique individuals and *parts* of you. all my love -- n

Andrea said...

Congrats little man!!
He looks like you, Mama M. :)
It goes by too fast, my little man is 18 months old...

L.L. Barkat said...

My, my. He looks so much like you! Especially in that first photo. Cute as a button.

MamaMonk said...

It's so funny how many people say he looks like me. hope it's not the double chin :).he does look A LOT like me, I agree, and my baby pictures, especially.

Anonymous said...

wonderful reflections! and a wonderful wee boy...happy belated birthday to your small man. looking forward to seeing you again soon.

Rach said...

Hey MM, I've commented on your friends' Wild Hope blog again, looking for an answer! Hope they dont think I'm too pushy! Please tell them I'm crazy, but not stalking them! It's just that we've been asked to do an interview for vagablogging and we *want* to say "We would like to go and work with the wild folks at Wild Hope", but we don't want to say it if they can't have us - like all our other Africa plans!
Anyway, looking forward to your next post!!!

Anonymous said...

hi! i'm lisa borden. we met brian years ago when he came to Kenya with Esther. we are moving in two weeks to Tanzania to be team with peter and tammy! i'm glad you're enjoying the wild hope stories blog :-)

Anonymous said...

ps i think the birthday boy looks like his daddy!

Anonymous said...

Good morning!

I just sent Rach's letter to me on to Peter and Tammy. They are in transit right now, arriving in LA on Saturday afternoon. Their heads will take a while to clear :-) They'll be in the States for 2 months so we'll overlap here for 2 weeks before we head over.

We hope you and Bryan and kids get out there to see us all one day!