This Autumn

It’s funny, to be pregnant and not know the person whom you’re carrying. I was walking around with this little stranger who was going to be part of our family, and all I knew about her was she was making me sick to my stomach. First-time mom and all, I really hoped I would like her.

Well, so far she’s a sweet, physically active, detail-oriented, opinionated and fairly dramatic little [eight-month-old] who, in no particular order:

• Hates her bib, and rips it off every chance she gets.
• Loves bread (currently Oroweat Health Nut, but any kind really). She prefers it to Cheerios, even.
• Looks you in the face and yells, “uuunnnnnhhhhhh!” when she wants more of something (food, usually) even though she knows the ASL sign for “more.” She’s lately decided she doesn’t care to use the few signs she knows…because she knows mom and dad want her to?
• Just completed her first round of anti-tantrum training. Mom got tears in her eyes to see Autumn (successfully) struggle to control herself the next time around.
• Moved quickly from crawling to pulling herself up to pushing off surfaces and standing upright as long as she can before crashing to the ground. She’s up to about seven seconds. It makes her really happy.
• Loves being tossed into the air.
• Coughs or scrunches up her nose and “snuffles” when she wants attention.
• Can find any speck of floor debris no matter how much I sweep (which, lest I mislead, isn’t that often actually), and ingest it before I can reach her, running. The “what to expect” book tells me to relax; she’ll be fine.
• Nine times out of ten, beams with her whole body when I go to get her up in the morning or after naptime. It makes my day.

A friend recently asked if there was any difference between what parenthood was actually like compared to what I thought it’d be before she arrived. Somewhat ambivalent about having kids, I only ever considered the cost. I just had no idea of the joy.

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