Valentin is One Year Old

I just now realize how little I write about Valentin here. No, I am no longer mad at him for not being born a girl. And yes, of course I was in the beginning - but only the first few seconds after he was born while I was still expecting him to be one of those cases when doctors made mistakes on the ultrasound. But that changed the moment they lay his little body on my chest. I remember the warmth he emanated - it went straight to my heart... Now I don't want to change anything about him!

I realize that during Martin's first year, I blogged about every single milestone - how he slept, how he ate, every tooth that came through, about his growth charts, his burps and hiccups... It is not that those are not important now with the second child - no, we are equally excited to see Valentin grow. Hearing him say 'mama' (at 9 months) felt as good and exciting as the first time Martin said it. And we suffered every tooth that came through. And he is still waking me up every single night to nurse, and then I am dead tired for the rest of the day at work! And seeing him roll over, then crawl, then pull up, then taking a few feeble steps by himself (still not walking, though) has been equally exciting as with the first one. The difference this time, however, was that we never doubted these milestones will happen - we were much more relaxed and did not need this feedback to assure ourselves we must be doing something right.

Vale has an incredible personality! He is always smiling, always content. He's been taking stoically Martin's constant pulling his toys out of his hands. He would occasionally do the same to Martin without being afraid of the subsequent pushing and pulling and occasional fall to the ground. Vale would put anything in his mouth. And if he knows it might be dangerous, he would look at me with an evil grin and put it in his mouth faster. He would then laugh out loud at my reaction and clench his teeth tight so that I have a hard time pulling the object out. He would challenge me to play with him by looking teasingly at me, then laughing out load and crawling rapidly away and would scream with pleasure when I start chasing him. He would belly laugh when I catch him and start to tickle him.

On his birthday, however, Vale woke up very cranky and fussy and would cry at the slightest sign I might put him down. Having had runny nose and cough for the past week or so, I doubted ear infection and took him to his doctor. She confirmed my fears and put him on antibiotics. First ear infection on his first birthday - not fun! Still, we gathered la familia to celebrate the occasion and to drink for his health of course. He had a cake with one candle, which he did not have the desire to blow (although he knows how to blow candles and does it every time he sees a lit one), but Martin and Simon were more than happy to help!

Martin seems to have outgrown his jealousy stage. He is very attached to Vale. And continues to act as his advocate - for example, whenever Vale does something that Martin knows is wrong, before I even say something, he would say 'Valeto ne iska time-out' ('Vale does not want a time-out') (of course I still don't put Vale in time-outs and I do it very rarely with Martin, but he has learnt to associate bad behaviour with the prospect of a time-out). And yesterday, I heard Martin talking on his toy phone to the 'firemen that come to take bad boys away' (we had to come up with something to scare him when he absolutely refuses to behave):
"Ne idvaite da vzemete Martin i Valeto - nie dobro momche. I Valeto dobro momche. Toi ne plache", (said at a time when Vale was in the other room crying his lungs off), " i niama da vzemete mama, i tati, i baba, i diado... ".
("Don't come to take Martin & Vale away - we good boy. Vale also good boy. He doesn't cry. And don't take away mama, daddy, grandma, grandpa...")

Must be love!