Happy Birthday, Geoff!

Happy Birthday, to my second son!
When I went into labor with Geoff, I wasn't sure that was what was happening, so I went into the office to be checked.  Now, this was my fifth child, it wasn't that I didn't understand this process, but the contractions seemed to be less consistent, and Hubby was going to be leaving for assignment that day to another office 25 miles away.  I had to know whether to head him off, and soon--if I waited, he'd be out of reach.

I also had a case of strep throat at home, and another child who woke up that morning with a sore throat.  So, a good friend across the street took Roseanne in to the pediatrician for a throat culture as I headed for the obstetrician's office to see the doctor who was no longer delivering babies, who verified that I would soon be seeing the one who was.  But I'd better call Hubby first and catch him before he took off.

I can't have this baby today!  My kids are sick--what if I can't bring this one in the door when they send us home from the hospital?  [Roseanne, thankfully, did not have strep.]

His response, with a twinkle and a smile? "Mother Nature doesn't care."  Oh, so true.

So we had a boy, the only baby born in an even-numbered year, the only one with a p.m. arrival time, and the only one for whom we had picked a firm name in advance.  The only baby we ever took home from the hospital without a name.

Now, we had always chosen a couple of possibles, and tried them out when the kid arrived.  Back then, you had no way of knowing whether you were expecting a boy or a girl, unless you found out subsequent to some grave medical concern which had caused the doctor to order an amniocentesis or an ultrasound.  Ultrasounds certainly existed, but insurance did not yet consider them routine, so if you didn't have trouble, you didn't get one.  Now they are automatic.

We had picked out Robert.  I felt firm that a Robert could be a variety of types, and the ranks of Roberts had not been added to in this generation (we had them on all sides in my family) and we would not shorten it to Bob.  It was all set.

Except it wasn't.  It just didn't work for us.  It just didn't fit.  So we started trying out other possibilities, and we could not agree on a name before we took him home, so he was discharged as Baby Boy.  What to name the baby then became a point of exhaustion, and he was a week old before it was settled. Geoffrey hadn't even been on our list, but that's where we settled, and he says he likes it.

10 or 11 weeks old

He was an 'upright' baby--he did not like to be laid back into your elbow and crooned at, but wanted to be held up-and-down on your shoulder.  He was always pushing the limits of his physical skills, sitting, crawling, and walking early.

He took his first steps at 8 months, 3 days.  It's on the record that exactly because it was so astonishing.  And as anyone who has ever had a baby can tell you, you're all excited and proud when the first one starts walking--and then realize that mobility has increased to near 100% and judgement is still near zero, and walking early is not to the adults' advantage.

All babies start to walk, topple, and keep going on a crawl because it's faster.  Well, this boy wasn't satisfied with that.  He had too much zoom in him for that idea.  He pulled himself up, let go, and tried to take off; and fell down.  He pulled himself up, placed his feet apart--one a little forward of the other-- and rocked back and forth a wee bit, testing his balance; once sure of it, he tried to take off, and fell down.  So he decided that if he couldn't run, what good was this?  There was no point in this walking stuff, and he refused (after a few days) to do the normal "Come to Mommy!  Come to Daddy!" chortling towards outstretched arms.  If crawling is faster, that's what I'm sticking to.  The pediatrician was slightly perplexed, but we could report that when he wasn't thinking about it, he would indeed take a few steps between pieces of furniture.

Five weeks after those first steps, he started again, and he could run.  It was emblematic of his personality that he will do things on his own agenda and pursue them fiercely when he's ready.  The next thing he figured out how to do was tackle his older brother, a mellower soul, about the knees, to Jonathan's consternation.  Yup, that's Geoff.

Here he is with his sweetheart and young son.  Happy Birthday!         

last year, before deployment