A Happy Birthday

Yesterday was my son Elijah's first birthday. I still can hardly believe it.

In one sense, it doesn't seem so long ago that our litte family had only 3 people in it. Ethan was king, commanding nearly every moment of attention between my and Marc's waking hours (and some of the night!) It seems that even less time has passed since the moment I was holding Eli's little body to my chest, still blue and purple as he took his first breaths.

Yet a year has passed. In another sense, it is hard to imagine my days without Eli's sunny smile. He is happy most of the time and loves to laugh. He is patient with Ethan and with me. He is such a joy in our family!

To celebrate a one-year-old's birthday is much easier than an older child. Their likes and joys are so much simpler! Eli would be happy with most things, but it was fun to please him with some of his favorite things. He received a fun toy from us after Ethan went down for his nap, which meant that he got to play with it first all by himself, before Ethan could take over.

For dinner we had some of his favorite foods: fish sticks, fries, strawberries, and chocolate milk (we only left out eggs.)

After dinner we got out his other present, a splash pad that is hooked up to a hose. He and Ethan had a blast!

Then it was time for cake! I usually make my kids' birthday cakes, but this year we had just come home from a long weekend of fun at the first Fuentes family reunion. So I had to pick from whatever was at the Smith's bakery. To my luck and surprise, there was a cute Sesame Street one. Perfect!

I think that it is the prerogative if every one-year-old to get to eat cake with their hands. When else will he get to do this again? I'm sure that feeling the soft and squishy cake in your hands must be delightful to a little person.

To end a wonderful day, Eli fell asleep in my arms as we all watched "Tangled" together. I took him to his room and couldn't seem to set him down. I sat and watched him sleep in my arms as the room grew darker, so peaceful, so perfect. I almost didn't want the moment to end; I wanted to keep him in my arms and keep the day. The feeling reminded me of a poem I read recently by one of my favorite poets Ted Kooser.


A Happy Birthday


This evening, I sat by an open window
and read till the light was gone and the book
was no more than a part of the darkness.
I could easily have switched on a lamp,
but I wanted to ride this day down into night,
to sit alone and smooth the unreadable page
with the pale gray ghost of my hand.