This 1 is for Hunter

For some reason I never thought I would have a boy.  I just always had a feeling that we would have two girls.  So much so that we already had a very lovely girl name (Sophia Renee) picked out.  Once the shock of seeing a penis on the ultrasound wore off I was both excited and a little afraid.  I haven’t had much experience with boys (you know what I mean!).  I was one of four girls, raised virtually by my mom.  We had only one male cousin but he was older and we weren’t close.  I didn’t know what to do with boys.  Boys are loud and rowdy.  I have a nephew, Brody, who I wouldn’t consider to be excessively wild but he still throws things against walls when he plays and wants to wrestle and play forcefully with Zoey.  This is normal for boys but not for most girls and Zoey isn’t usual a fan of boy play.  I had gotten used to my customarily soft and gentle Zoey who was largely different in this respect from her cousin.  I didn’t feel prepared for the unnecessary roughness that was to come.

Yet here I am raising a boy and loving it.  There are definite distinctions between young boys and girls.  This was clear to me early on.  Hunter is more forceful, more violent with things.  You can see his mind working when he‘s doing something, thinking about the mechanics of it.  He enjoys things like sticking his hand in the toilet, something Zoey never did. Anything and everything is treated like a car with wheels that should be pushed along the floor.  He also loves balls (the kind you throw--not his own, but I’m sure he digs those too).  He’s already throwing all round objects and trying to bounce them.  It took Zoey longer to take an interest in playing this way.  Zoey also didn’t have another kid around to watch and learn from and I think this makes a difference too.  Really I guess these could just be differences in personality and interest but I think at the core there is a definite difference between boy and girl.  I’m just learning as I go, waiting for the moment when his toys start ricocheting off the walls.     

My little boy baby is going to be one year old on July 26.  I absolutely cannot believe it.  This year in so many ways feels like it has rushed by me.  It feels like both yesterday and like a million years ago that we brought our ten pound, not so little bundle of boy, home from the hospital.  The second time around I knew what to expect with a baby.  I knew about the milestones and when they should be happening.  I have been getting so much joy out of Hunter’s firsts, his accomplishments.  From his first smile, to rolling over, to sitting up, to crawling (time to start paying attention to where he is), to holding his own bottle (yay less work for us), to walking, to falling, to getting back up, to talking (waiting for the moment when he starts saying momma).  

The other morning we went into Zoey’s room.  I plucked Hunter’s much adored binky out of his mouth and said, “Say Hi Zoey.”  And in this clear, deep voice, without thinking he proceeded to say, “Hi Zoey.”  I was blown away, I sucked in my breath and he looked over a me, unsure of what he had done that caused this reaction.  I laughed for five minutes in disbelief.  I hadn’t imagined it, both Joe and Zoey also heard Hunter’s utterance.  I couldn’t believe he had spoken like that and he hasn’t done it since. Each new thing he does makes me happy, proud, amazed and oh so grateful for him.     

Hunter is my little boy, my little guy, he’s on my lap, and holding onto my legs and gripping my shirt while I carry him.   He’s at the stage where he wants to be with me, seeing me or touching me as much as he can and crying when I leave the room.  It makes it difficult to get things done but it’s a stage that will end as quickly as it began.  I’m going to enjoy raising this boy and am working on making him a momma’s boy, not a wimpy one that can’t live without me, just one that adores his mommy always.

Happy birthday dear Hunter, happy birthday to you...and many more...