How the hell DOES that happen? Seriously, the idea of Taidhgin, Eibhlin, or Connlaodh turning ten makes my stomach churn- how does 33 happen to one's kids? Don't get me wrong, I want my children to grow up, become productive citizens and be happy adults, but isn't it supposed to take one year at a time? Why does the life of a child feel like dog years to their parents? I swear it has been a year since I brought him home but the loose tooth and fixation on Ben 10 and video games proves me wrong...
Tomorrow Taidhgin turns five. He was born on a Monday and tomorrow will be the first time since then that his birthday has fallen on a Monday Five years ago this moment we were packing up the dogs to bring them to the I-20 Medical Center since we were heading off to the hospital soon and didn't know when we would be back. I was wearing a pink sleeveless maternity shirt, black maternity yoga pants, and pink/ black/ white flip-flops. My hair was almost as short as it is now, I was very tan, I had just turned 28. Every detail is permanently etched into the ever so fragile gossamer of memory that I have left...from the way my rose of sharon's were in bloom to the music that was playing on the radio to the fact that I remember being on the phone with my cousin, tracking my contractions while she prattled on and one, dying to tell her what I was doing but not wanting to just in case it wasn't the real thing.
We waited until my contractions were "close"- they were right at about 5 minutes apart (and, as mothers of more than one know, five minutes apart is nothing with babies 2 and then some...hell, at five minutes apart with Eibhlin I was putting on make up and with Connlaodh I was still sleeping!) so I was anxious and nervous and fidgety and ready to go- and the excitement I felt as we headed up Matlock Road toward Arlington Memorial was overwhelming. What would this baby be like? Who would he look like? What color would his hair be? Would he like to read? Would he like broccoli? Would he play sports? Would he sing bass? Would he be tall or short? Would he be a scrawny little chicken or a big ol' moose? WHO would he be?
By 11:45 the next morning (given time for a weigh-in and a wipe down post delivery), we had a few of those questions answered. Taidhgin Dante Fitch Steele was just over 7 lbs, just over 20" long- no big winner there...and not much has changed- ha ha. He had dark hair then, light hair now. He does like broccoli. He probably will not sing bass- tenor, if anyone will take him in their choir, that is. He will probably play a sport that doesn't involve a team effort, though more than likely he will play on the chess team instead of the soccer team. He likes to read as long as he can take a break after a page or two. After just short of five years, as you can see, we have managed to answer most of our initial questions. That last one, the all important one, remains to be seen....and, if I am lucky, I will be around long enough to see him come closer and closer to the real truth of who he is.
We celebrated Taidhgin's fifth birthday today at the Y with a great group of 20+ kids and a handful of adults. The pool at the Y was a hit among all age groups and the kids just had a great time hanging out with each other. Other than one lone whine about an "unshared" pair of goggles, there was nary a complaint from the under 10 or over 20 crowd (the ones in the middle are at that age where they will whine about anything, so I ignored them altogether).
There are lots of pics of the party on our Kodak site (check out the link on the left), but I will post some here, as well...only after I once again use this forum to reflect on just how much we need to appreciate what we are given in our children.
I began by talking about five years ago, let me end by talking about today. Today I watched one of Taidhgin's best friends lose his first tooth. I know, I know...you are saying, "So what? Every kid loses their teeth?" But I am retarded and thought it so poignant that I got all emotional and acted like an idiot. Why oh why would the sight of a space where a tooth once stood set me off? Because I can remember losing my own teeth, and in my head I was so old- such a BIG kid- and while I know that I am not every person now, surely in that sense back then I was every child. And if my baby loses his tooth, does not a part of his innocence and childhood fall out with it? With every millimeter that new adult tooth creeps upward, isn't it also my son creeping that much closer to being an adult? So maybe my reaction to poor Quincy's tooth loss was less a mourning for the tooth (and Quincy's obvious discomfort with the subsequent hole in his gum) and more a mourning of the hole that will one day be in his mother's heart, the day Quincy walks out the door, bags in hand, and sets off to be who HE is. Far-fetched, perhaps, but if you have read this far in and have read even one other post, then you probably already assumed I would make a leap such as this one. But I digress...my point is that maybe this means that we as parents should stop thinking about that future for our own child- who he/she WILL be- and start spending that much more time on who he/she IS now. And maybe that means that when Taidhgin's front tooth (oh, yes- the one that is wiggling as we speak) makes its journey out of his mouth and into his tooth pillow, I will place a quarter in the pocket of the pillow, remove the tooth,wipe a tear from my eye, and remember that he still has 19 of those suckers yet to come out before he can call himself grown.
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Now for a couple of pics...feel free to hit up our Kodak site to check out the other ones from today and the rest from yesterday, too!
Sorry. No words for this one. :-)
What kind of a wish does a 5 year old make?
The Highpointe Boys.
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