O turns 1

Sometime towards the beginning of this month Oskar turned one. This year has alternated between crawling and flying past, but either way it still surprised us that he was one year old. We celebrated by taking a family hike with some friends. We thought it was fitting as Oskar's lists of loves is:

1. me

2. Rocky

3. bratwursts

4. bathtime

5. sneaking through the baby gate

6. milk

7. Winston, Violet and Eliot

8. climbing inside the dishwasher

Sometimes I think bratwursts might be crawling up the list past me.

The main excitement around our house about birthdays is what the cake is going to be. Rocky's cake have become the stuff of legends to our kids. They spend the whole year discussing what type of cake they want. Even if O doesn't talk much, the older three spent plenty of time discussing what his cake should be. 

 

It ended up not even mattering, because when we put it in front of him, he took one look at it and cried to have his bratwurst back. 

 He couldn't be talked back into the cake. The other kids didn't mind and happily devoured it for him.

We sure love this sweet boy. At twelve months he sleeps well at night. He crawls around like a tiny rocket. We call him our puppy. When Violet was asked in school if she had any pets, she said she has an Oskie Bug--who she explained as being like a puppy but was actually a baby. 

He loves snuggles and gives the best hugs. He loves to ride in the ergo and sit on laps. He is by far our most snuggly baby. His top two teeth have just broken through and I'm a tiny bit sad to see his two bottom teeth smile go. He has the sweetest gurgle he makes when he gets excited or when he laughs. He loves to smile at people and loves to climb anything. 

Sometimes I mourn and worry over the reality that I have so little time to spend focusing entirely on him. Being the fourth child means there are definite gaps. When I'm feeling inadequate in my parenting, I try to remember there are always trade offs in life. Instead of giving him constant time with me, I have given him three new best friends.

These three fools love and adore him. When it's time for him to go to bed (which he hates) they all try to save him, blocking the door to his room. He's never allowed to go to bed without everyone getting to give him a kiss. When the girls walk in the door from school, they both immediately drop onto the floor to play and snuggle with him. When he first wakes up, all three of them ask if they can, "go talk to Oscar". This usually buys me 5-15 more minutes to finish whatever I am doing while I listen to him squeal in delight at having his brother or sisters climb into his crib and bring him toys or read him books.

My prayer is that the love and friendship they have for each other will fill in any gaps left by my parenting that seems to be so often spread too thin.

 My tenderhearted Winston loves him so much. I can already tell they are going to be great friends.

 And the leader of the pack. We recently decided it's time for her to be Leonardo instead of Michelangelo. (Me ten years ago cannot believe I made that analogy as an adult.) She is such a kind and caring sister, I'm glad to have her as the leader of my turtles.

  Since I was out of commission this time last year (I didn't leave my house for at least two weeks straight, and rarely after that), I feel like this is my first fall in six years. It's such a beautiful and brief season, I have really relished spending time outside.

Between moving countries, having a baby and everything else, this year hasn't been the easiest one of my life, but it has been a good one. The best part of the year was having Oskar join our family. I hope and pray that we can be adequate and enough for this sweet boy.