All these posts with no picture. Tsk tsk. 

Hands down, the highlight of my week (which has been very good! Lots of sunshine, lots of walks with IZ on the river front) was holding our neighbor’s two week old baby.

We’d dropped by, because we saw the proud new daddy working the yard and we wanted to give them a tree. (An aside, our neighbors have built a tiny farm in their back-yard. And I bought a pear tree 18 months ago on a whim *read:SALE* and then never found a place for it. Someone needed to put that tree in the ground and I was hoping it would be them!)

Baby G was born on the 25th of February, and we’d been keeping our distance because new parents deserve to not be inundated. But the whole street is excited. We keep asking each other, “Have you seen him, yet?” “No, no, giving them space.”

There have been other babies born in the neighborhood, but he’s our first on the block. With all of us either retired or with kids with one foot out the door: we needed a baby influx! And with all of us retired or with kids with one foot out the door, this baby is going to be surrounded with love and a bevy of extra “aunts and uncles”.

Anyhow, back to my story… we’re talking to Dad in the yard when Mom appears at the door, “Do you want to come inside and meet the baby?”

Um? Don’t have to ask me twice. I mentally told myself, “Stay calm, walk, walk.”  I left IZ in the dust. See ya!

Let me tell you people. He’s gorgeous. I mean it. I know, I know, all babies are. But I’m completely unbiased, as this little guy is not related to me in any fashion. GORGEOUS. He’s just hanging out in his bassinet making all these adorable 2 week old baby faces. IZ and I stood over him, talking with Mom, getting the scoop on who this new little person is. And then she asked, “Do you want to hold him?”

Seriously?

Here’s the thing friends, I never ask. NEVER.  I had one of those babies who could be passed around to strangers with ease. But when he got home, he would wail for hours. It overwhelmed his little senses and all the emotion he was bottling up from being passed around would just explode out of him. Our pediatrician’s recommendation was to limit the passing. She said, “You hold him, let other people talk to him while you do.”

So, from experience, I don’t ask to hold babies. Because there is nothing worse than being asked and then having to say “No.” It’s horrible; and while you’d think people would handle the “no” with grace: some don’t. Some feel entitled and tell you so. Some yell at you and make a scene and call you names. For me, it was my first lesson in parenting: you put your kid’s needs in front of other people’s desires. But that doesn’t mean it was an enjoyable lesson!

I washed up and held this new treasure. IZ stood behind me and we just cuddled with this precious new life. I felt my breath catch: and I realized I hadn’t held a baby this tiny since Geo.  For a few moments we could see the future.

When I handed him back to his mother I said thank you. She probably has no idea what a gift it was to hold her newly born son. But it was: one I am treasuring and holding and keeping safe. Until the next time she asks.