My boy lifted his little newborn head up off the bed while we were still in the hospital–straining and red-faced, he lifted it up and those big, brown eyes searched the room for anything and everything.
He wanted to see the world.
He never liked to sleep. At his 10-day-old photoshoot, I hoped to capture some of those squishy, sleeping, new baby shots. You know the ones where the newborn is all scrunched up in a ball, snuggled into a basket, or wearing a cute hat, or swaddled with only their perfect little newborn face sticking out?
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I did everything I could think of to get my boy to sleep for the photos, but our pictures are of a wide-eyed babe, cute, but with his little limbs wherever he wanted them. They were his little limbs after all. He would not submit to being contorted into a ball and he would not submit to close-eyed stillness for the sake of my picture.
He wanted to see the world.
He didn’t find a swaddling cloth comforting, he found it containing, and my boy would not be contained.
He wanted to see the world.
It took only six months on the planet before he figured out how to crawl, another three to walk, and just a couple more weeks to run.
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He wanted to see the world.
At nine, he deep dives into everything with the same energy as that uncontainable newborn. He doesn’t just watch an anime show–he watches every one he can find, he practices the Japanese phrases he hears in the shows, he orders chopsticks and eats noodles like his favorite characters, and he talks excitedly about planning a trip to Japan.
He wants to see the world.
He talks a million miles a minute, juggles a thousand different interests, starts a hundred projects at once, and bounces brilliant and crazy ideas off me every day.
And me?
I was sad over some of my dashed expectations during our first few years together, but I’ve leaned into embracing the wild, creative, energetic child I have.
I love our conversations in the car about anything and everything. I love the way his mind works. I love to listen to the songs he writes. I love being his mom.
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It isn’t easy to keep up with him, but I will keep trying as long as he is inviting.
He wants to see the world, and it’s my great pleasure to help him for as long as he will let me.