As you might know, our little cupcake recently turned 1 year old. A lot of people have asked me if I can believe a year has flown by…and the question really stumps me. In a way, Mariah’s precious baby moments have moved too quickly since babies literally grow and develop right before our eyes. But on the other hand, this has also felt like the longest year of my own life since time can inch by slowly when you’re home with a baby…and since it feels like a lifetime ago that Mariah was a tiny newborn. Some people describe this parenthood phenomenon through the quote “the days move slowly, but the years move quickly” – I’ve found this to be very true. And despite some of the long days being challenging, each one had its place in teaching me about the illusion of time. I’ve come to the conclusion that life can move forward as slowly or as quickly as we let it, so it’s probably a good balance to experience some busy days filled with work and adventure, and some slow days to help us be mindful and present.
Mariah’s development has continued to spiral forward in the last few months. Around 8 months, Mariah learned how to backtrack down the stairs and also learned how to wave ‘bye’ around the same time – so she often combines the two and takes off when she needs a change of scenery. Her musical talents flourished at 9 months when she started clapping, ‘singing’ (which she does in a very throaty gaaa noise) and dancing. At 10 months, Mariah turned her ba-ba-ing into a more defined ‘ba-bye’ and knows to do this while waving when someone is leaving. This was helpful timing since we started transitioning Mariah into her dayhome at 11 months. After just a few tough days, she started waving ba-bye to us in the morning and has gradually become more and more comfortable with her loving caregiver and new ‘friends’. And perhaps just to check it off her milestone list, Mariah literally started walking on her first birthday. She had been taking a step or two for several weeks, but seemed to prefer the safety of crawling. I guess she was just waiting until she felt ready since she skipped over the wobbly speed-walking stage and just started walking independently with pretty good control. Her moves are still a bit zombie-ish at this point, but she gets from a to b. Unfortunately, ‘b’ has included all the things we would prefer her not to touch. Every now and then when Ivan and I lose track of her for a minute, we hear a ‘clank, splash, splash’ and sure enough she’s swooshing a facecloth in the toilet bowl with a smile on her face. Yesterday, I learned that my mom had forgotten a lipstick at our house when Mariah emerged from her bedroom with colourful lips and hands. And just when you think you can get mad at her – she uses her cute magic to make you crack a smile. She’s recently started laughing like an adult who is having a serious chuckle – she throws her head back in a whiplash motion and then tucks her chin down to her chest like every situation is the funniest moment she has ever experienced. Mariah does this in public for cashiers and waitresses who indulge her in the attention she loves…in fact she’s been called a ‘ham’ by two different strangers in the last week! She loves being a comedian like her dad, and I’m sure once she starts talking, there will be plenty of funny lines coming out of her mouth.
I suppose Mariah’s magical charm might have wiped away our memory of how hard raising a baby is…since Ivan and I have decided to start it all over again. We are happy to say that we’re 12 weeks pregnant, so Mariah and her new brother or sister will be just a year and a half apart!
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