My baby is TWO YEARS OLD. It’s hard to believe that twenty-four months have passed since he was born at Perinatal in Laranjeiros in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. We’ve lived in four different places since then—Copacabana, Ipanema, Boston, and Charlottesville. Alex has learned to crawl, walk, run, and jump, and is currently working on talking. He makes us laugh, tries to trick us, and sometimes drives us crazy with his energy, curiosity, and mischievousness. He’s a friendly little guy and some of my proudest moments are watching him make other people smile when he’s playing down on the pedestrian mall.
In fact, our walks on the Downtown Mall during the past year epitomize how much he’s grown up. When we arrived last July, he couldn’t walk yet. He’d crawl around a bit, getting quite dirty and scraping up his knees. Even when he did learn to walk, he was usually content to sit in his stroller and people watch. In the winter, he began trying to jump out of his stroller about mid-way down the Mall, but he could always be coaxed back in to go home. The first store he recognized was the ice cream shop. He would point at it, but could be distracted to continue on his way. Now he’s two—it’s difficult to get him in the stroller to go down to the Mall. He immediately jumps out and runs faster than we do when we arrive. He wants to write on the Free Speech Wall and searches all around for chalk, visibly protesting if none is to be found. If the Children’s Museum is closed, he knocks on the door. He points at both ice cream shops, both pizza parlors, and Five Guys hamburgers. It’s hard to dissuade him from going in and when he does, we have to park the stroller, go inside and extract him upside down and screaming. Forget the stroller. Alex loves running in and out of the tables set up for dining all along the Mall. He knows how to duck under the chains, and stay just out of reach. He moves one way and then the other to prevent us from scooping him up. He entertains the diners and we just stand and watch. If there is a concert on Friday afternoons, he’s in heaven—we can barely keep up with him as he darts in and out of the crowd. He learned to ride the trolley with Roque and points at it and insists on riding. I once had to abandon the stroller and ride the trolley for a few blocks to avoid a major meltdown. He often does not get in the stroller to come home and we end up carrying him. It’s hard and it’s tiring and we’ve basically had to abandon the adjectives “flexible” and “easygoing”, but Alex is two and it has been a great joy to see our baby grow up and develop his strong, persistent, friendly personality.
To celebrate the big day, we planned a picnic in the yard, but it rained. The party was moved inside and we had a good time. Alex somehow knew the attention was on him and of course he loved it! His grandma and grandpa were there from St. Louis, as were many friends and neighbors. We’re a long way from Rio, but our awesome son continues to shine with a tropical disposition and a warming smile.
Our neighbor Aaron kindly planted this tree in our yard the day before Alex’s birthday. It seemed appropriate that it be Alex’s “birthday tree”. We’ll see how fast the two of them – Alex and the tree – grow.
