Day 12: Baby's First Walk

Thank goodness my mom is here. Not only would this lovely walk not have been possible, but I might have shriveled up like a raison from not eating or drinking anything for the past week. Really. She fed and hydrated me at mealtimes; brought me my phone, magazines, pain medicine, ice packs, lip balm, a frightening variety of child-care books, and whatever else i would ring her for (i insisted she communicate with me via cellphone from downstairs, so we didn't risk waking Baby Cass with our loud voices). She changed cass's diapers--and didn't even argue when i dictated detailed, step-by-step instructions from the other room. But it wasn't that she never questioned my authority (because, clearly, i do not have a control issue), it's that she never made me feel like i didn't know what i was doing--even though I didn't.

We dressed Cass in weather-appropriate clothing and accessories (cute hat, huh?), swaddled him, and got him in the stroller, out of the house and onto the sidewalk, with very little fuss. As I walked behind the heavy-duty stroller--a necessity for detroit's disjointed sidewalks, littered with broken glass--I almost burst with pride. This walk required absolutely no talent or skill from Baby Cass, but I couldn't get over the feeling that he was already showing signs of being a very advanced baby. Perhaps it was the way he knowingly tilted his head to the side to avoid a particularly bright ray of sunlight. Or how he hushed immediately upon hitting the stroller, never to utter a peep the entire way. Or how he made the cutest faces (ones I didn't even know he had mastered!) when admireres peeked under the hood.

And when the only destinations you have (not including White Castle) are Daddy's office and Uncle Phil's restaurant, there are lots of admirers.