From 0 to 1 in 60 Seconds

I blinked, and Lucia was one.

How else to describe this first year? She was born, we were overjoyed, we got her home from the hospital, and then bam--she was eating cake at her first birthday party. It seems like no time has passed at all.

We decorated the wall with some of our best memories from the past year.

"OMG DO YOU EVEN KNOW HOW GOOD CAKE IS?!?!"

Of course, time did pass. But unfortunately for my dear Lucia, our attention during those 12 months in between Octobers 2012 and 2013 was unevenly divided among her, her older brother, and her older sister. We made sure her basic needs were met--we fed her, we changed her, and we put her to bed--but enrichment time, or even one-on-one time, was lacking.

I should clarify that one-on-one time with her parents was lacking. Lucia got a lot of quality time with Andres and Celia, who were more than willing to entertain her during the early months. And now that she can crawl and babble, she plays the roles of both Partner in Crime (e.g., when she and Celia splash all the water and washcloths out of the tub) and Chief Annoyance (e.g., when she gets a bit too close to Andres' Pokemon cards) on a daily basis. They do both lover her dearly, though. In fact, when I woke up Celia this morning, she grew angry with me because I didn't bring Lucia with me. "Daddy!" she said, "Bring Lucia tomorrow. I like Lucia to wake me up."

Even during my glorious paternity leave this spring, I struggled to carve away time for us to do special things together. There were always more errands to run, rooms to clean, laundry to do, or someone to pick up from somewhere. I did get better at making time as my leave ran out--we spent a few nice mornings in Harvard Square, at the ICA, and at the deCordova. But as I reluctantly returned to work 3 months after having left it, I felt like I had spent most of my time away just treading water, and had not moved much towards my goal of getting to know the new addition to our family.

For her part, Lucia has adapted very well to being the forgotten third child. She is usually easy going. She is a great eater, and even better mess-maker. She talks a lot. And when her siblings are off fighting or playing together, she is usually able to entertain herself. Her current favorite activities include: playing the telephone answering machine (seriously--she's tall enough to reach the big "play" button, and she'll just stand there, pressing it, playing months-old messages), climbing up stairs, and finding things to put in her mouth. Sometimes I feel bad that this is what she chooses to do when we have boxes of age-appropriate toys downstairs...but I know that if I brought them up, they would just go unused. The great myth of baby toys is that babies will actually play with them. Babies don't do anything of the sort. They'll suck on them and throw them if possible. Well, my feeling is that she can do all of those thing with the toys we already have lying around. Or she can keep playing the answering machine. She's happy either way.

She's also happy when she's playing any sort of games. These are a lot of fun, and they bring out her beautiful, one-toothed laugh.

A couple months ago, after her evening bath, she got into the habit of scampering away from me on all fours. Then she wold look back at me, grinning, to see if I was following her. Thus began the "chasing" game. Now, almost nightly, I get down on my hands and knees and chase Lucia all along the second floor. She jets away from me, then turns and giggles--while I say, in mock surprise, "Lucia! What are you doing?!" The other two enjoy watching, too. Actually, they enjoy egging their sister on, trying to help her escape the clutches of dear old dad. And if they laugh, she crawls even faster.

This is all a way of saying that Lucia's first year seemed to pass in an instant. For whatever reason, her first birthday party seemed less momentous than the previous first celebrations we had hosted; perhaps it was because I was just trying to make it through each day for 365 straight days, and didn't quite realize that a whole year had actually passed.

Queen of the bouncy house.

Lucia plays, while big brother acts as a sentry.

But this was my issue. Everyone else in attendance realized how significant the one year milestone was. And as Lucia shoved cake into her mouth for the first time, people cheered and laughed and remarked about how big she was getting, saying things like, "I can't believe she is one," and "before you know it, she'll be driving." All of which I believe, of course, because this first year was a sprint, not a marathon. Time to get in shape. Or, failing that, a time machine.