Milestones

 A small Christmas, with just us three and the dog and your uncle and his girlfriend, with grandparents over Zoom, but as befits a Christmas for a little boy who has just turned one, the number of presents for you was dizzying. Jammies you have already outgrown! Stacking things we will give away! A cement mixer truck that you love, an umbrella that you love even more, a stuffed sloth from your uncle which you adore, and best of all - extendable back scratchers that your dad put in the stockings, which you collected and wielded with great alacrity and some alarm on the part of the dog. You were so exhausted from all the excitement that you fell asleep at your nap without even rocking. Then we had a quiet afternoon playing with fake tattoo pens and, eventually, showing you fifteen minutes or so of your very first film - The Thin Man. It's technically a Christmas movie, after all, with plenty of snappy dialogue, and a dog for you to stare at. You are enjoying identifying dogs in your baby books, and your new favorite activity is to hunt through and find all instances of the moon in your books. You have figured out that they represent the moon in the sky, and you find one, sometimes say "Mmmm," and then point out the window.

"Look, that woman is wearing a hat," I said to you about glamorous Maureen Stapleton. You pointed to your head, and I said, "yes! That's right!"

You also have finally started signing! You made the signs for "more" and "milk" for the first time - with me, anyway - on Christmas eve. Last night while we were snuggling and watching Nick Charles mix martinis you nursed, then looked up at me and made the sign for "more." You have also made the sign for "sleep" when it's time for your nap. I feel like Annie Sullivan having a breakthrough with Helen Keller.

You have said "out," or something like it, and you have started waving goodbye when you want whatever is happening to end. When you want to go to bed you wave goodbye to your father with increasing insistence.

Today it is breezy and cold and sunny and after your nap we are going to go outside and play somewhere with your godlessparents Ginger and Brian. 

All in all, it was something like a magical Christmas, even given everything. I think it's because of you.