January 21, 2007
Five years ago:
Today:
What a difference five years makes, huh?
Amusingly, I was captioning the birthday pictures on our gallery website, and I captioned that last one, "Zeke blows out his birthday candles." Then I looked at the enlarged version and realized that that caption was not exactly accurate. Stazi is way more into blowing out birthday candles than Zeke is, apparently. Luckily, Zeke was cool with it. He just wanted to make sure he got the engine car as his piece.
Five years ago, our house was full of grownup stuff, except I didn't think of it as "grownup stuff", I thought of it simply as my stuff. And Keith's stuff. The memorabilia and detritus we'd collected and towed along with us through years of college and jobs and friendships. I didn't know much about babies, or toddlers, or small children, beyond what I'd learned from being an older sibling. Keith knew even less. We read books. I took notes on Equipment Needed For the First Bath, and Dangerously High Fevers. In Zeke's first month of life, I cautiously ventured to the library one sunny day, with him tucked securely into his baby sling. He made a little baby noise once we got inside, and I fled, certain that everyone in the library was looking at us.
Now we take our raucous crew to the library and the playground and restaurants, and I throw filthy children into the bath and scrub them down, and I know when a fever is worthy of a kiss and some Tylenol and when it's time to call the after-hours emergency pediatric hotline. Our house is full of toys and drawing paper and Wallace & Gromit DVDs, and the kitchen is wall-to-wall with preschool art projects.
What used to be the new normal has sunk so deeply into my psyche that I can barely remember what the old normal used to be like. We talk about trips we went on in the past, and I will say, "Wait a minute, when we went to Old Faithful at Yellowstone, did we have Zeke in the baby backpack or what?" and Keith reminds me that there was no Zeke yet. I forget. I forget that he was not always a part of our lives, because we are so used to having him here.
Earlier, I told him that he has been my little mookie for five whole years now, and that that is a very long time. He looked at me very seriously and said, "Well, that's a long time in Ohio."
Happy birthday, Zeke.
Posted at January 21, 2007 10:17 PM
Posted by: KrimoJo at January 22, 2007 1:24 PM
That is the most awesome cake I've ever seen!
Posted by: Monica at January 22, 2007 2:36 PM
I agree with Monica!! Fantastic!
Posted by: Morrie at January 22, 2007 7:47 PM
That entry brought tears to my eyes. Thanks.
And awesome cake, truly!
Posted by: Bibi at February 12, 2007 12:42 PM
Happy Birthday Zeke! I think it's so cool Zeke and Harper share a b-day! I can't believe it's been five years.
Tell Zeke five years is twice as long in Washington.
;)