Small Feats

I, as I suspect all fathers do, often look at one of my children and see some simple thing that seems to completely capture how my child has grown, learned or developed. These small discoveries are often accompanied with a burst of pride, look how wonderfully unique my child is growing up to be. Perhaps it is a father’s internal desire for their child to be special that urges them to seek out these things. Or perhaps a father is in such a privileged position of love that they cannot help but notice the little things that do make their child special.

As I seem to remember sharing here, Andrew has often surprised me with the newest thing he has learned, something he remembers or a physical feat I had believed to be beyond him. I recently watched a home video of him picking up a gargantuan rubber ball that stretched his arms to their full width. He has recounted vivid details of a trip to the zoo which we took over a month ago (Elephant (went in the) water. Hippo-pamamus water. Ostrich poo poo potty.) He has even begun to recite the counting numbers, though the general concept escapes him. (Count the Elephants. One. Two. Three! How many Elephants are there? Two.)

With Annaliese, it is much more difficult to find things that already make her special. Of course she eats, as it was a prerequisite of her coming home from the hospital. She sleeps. No biggie there. And as a book once told me, she and everybody else poops (even the ostrich). As that is the sum of her existence, it can be difficult to find some trait or accomplishment that is uniquely hers (at least in a father’s eyes). But on Tuesday, I marked her first major milestone along the ‘she grows up too fast’ road. My baby girl has exceptional neck strength. She can lie on her belly, hold up her head and look around. A big, fatherly ‘wow!’

While I know this is not much on the grand scale, I am glad to be in a position where I can see and especially notice the little achievements my children make. There are few greater joys than realizing, in a completely objective, scientific and unbiased way, that your child is special. I look forward to a lifetime of surprises.