A Half Birthday

Axel, 2013

Happy Half-Birthday, sweet fellow! Today Axel is 6 months old, changing by the minute, and so much fun.

He spends the morning cackling away in his chair, and just looks so generally amused by life, by new people, by the steam coming out of the chimneys of Brooklyn rowhouses and casting weird shadows across our living room. He is also fixated by the roll of paper towels we keep by the changing table.

For a while, he seemed stuck mid-roll, but now he's on the move 24-7. His little blanket on the floor can barely contain him; he's ready for wild explorations (especially if they involve grabbing beards, eyeglasses, or the cat.)

The other day, when I was in that bleary-half-awake-is-it-really before-7? state, I heard him babbling away to himself on the monitor, and the sound of it just made me so happy. It's a funny thing that, the sound of your child in another room. Even when you would typically do a lot of bargaining for another hour of sleep, that noise gets you out of bed, and puts the rest of the noise in your life in perspective.

It's not the stuff of traditional Christmas mornings you imagine will make a profound memory. It's the every day, stop-you-in-your-tracks sense of 'I can't believe he is here.' And it changes you, profoundly, to see the way a baby greets the world every day, with a grin, like 'What have you got for me?'

I know the phase of my life when there's a baby squeaking next door will be a short one. Six months have raced past.

Perhaps he's due for a candle in his pureed rutabaga today?

Axel at Six Months Old, 2013