CRIB NOTES: Birthday offers chance to celebrate, reminisce

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One year ago today, Rigby Paul Lane was welcomed into this world.

I can still vividly recall the early morning drive to the hospital on three hours of sleep, vomiting from a headache while my wife went through labor pains (I’m not sure I could endure that) and struggling to find the right words to put into this space as I typed on my laptop at home about midnight, about 18 hours before deadline.

The 365 days since then have been fantastic, if a bit sleep-deprived. Rigby is now a standing machine (Penny still marvels every time he props himself up, proclaiming, “Rigby’s doing it by himself”). He enjoys eating as much as his father does, and he’ll bench press more than his dad within the next few weeks.

Where his mother and I once wondered how we’d ever manage our schedules and get Penny to adulthood, those times when one of the kids is out with a family member seem more tranquil than the calmest Caribbean cruise. With both Penny and Rigby gallivanting about the house now, there’s nary a moment to rest in between dance requests, book readings and crawl chases (Rigby will stop every five feet and make sure I’m still in pursuit before commencing).

On the one hand, I sometimes wonder if I’ll ever get sufficient rest.

On the other hand, I should silence myself posthaste because they’re not even fighting with each other yet.

They are, however, working in tandem to achieve their common goal of self-amusement. Any time Rigby falls asleep in my arms and my eyes start to creep shut, Penny will burst in the room, as though the Bat Signal beckoned, and arouse me with a declaration of “Daddy, you need to be awake!” And Penny has perfected the precise timing needed to distract me just long enough to allow Rigby to try and eat that Mr. Potato Head arm he’s coveted for so long.

Other than hankering for that tuber appendage and his frequent longings for nourishment, Rigby hasn’t had a cranky day yet in his life. He’s genuinely happy to see everyone and makes the most of every situation, even playing with one of the socks his sister took of her foot 10 minutes after putting it on.

And he’s happiest when he’s with his big sister. Penny tries to share every meal with Rigby, wants to help change his diaper and grows forlorn on those nights she is unable to kiss him good night. Even when she gives a too-gruff hug or calls him her “baby sister” (which she only does sometimes), Rigby is all smiles.

So, too, are his mother and I. Adding Rigby to our family has made it complete.

As we get set to celebrate his birthday (family activities will occupy today, with his party taking place next weekend), I hope that the memories of Rigby’s birth — and the other events that will unfold over the next lifetime — remain as vidid as they are now.

I still smile any time I think about that day. And I still haven’t caught up on my sleep yet. But there’s always next year.

•••

I offered this advice 18 months ago when Penny turned 1, but it’s just as useful now.

There is a local supermarket that, with a birth certificate, will make your child a free miniature birthday cake for his first birthday. I won’t name the chain, but this grocer “never stops” finding ways to help parents save.

Contact Paul Laneat 693-1000, ext. 116,or paul.lane@gnnewspaper.com.