Harvey's Birthday Video
Here's the moment you've all been waiting for: birthday-classic video. But first, some words of explanation.
My mother who is affectionately known in our household as "GrammaBef" bought Harvey a pimped out baby pool for his birthday. This turned out to be the perfect thing for our kid-heavy party on Sunday (although Harvey was rather non-plussed by the chaos in the water).
The video was shot by my awesome brother Jake and cut together against a choice musical selection that required much deliberation. In my head I really wanted something like a punk rock version of "The Circle Game" but unfortunately the internet says that such a thing does not exist. Oh well. But the current selection did make for a fun moment of serendipity. At one point in editing, the music ran out right at the moment when I went from playing mom to yelling mom. I thought that this was so funny that I had to leave it in the final version.
What I notice from watching this video, more than how cute my son is and how amazingly in love with him I seem to be, is how much I look like a mom. Look at me: yelling at kids to share, gingerly keeping my son from drowning, cutting home-made birthday cake. Something happened to me over the past year while I wasn't paying attention. Somehow I got half-way competent at mothering.
And even though the words of the song indicate that I'd like Harvey to slow down his break-necking pace towards adulthood, in truth I don't really. I'm psyched that he's growing so rapidly, that he's learning to do so many new things, because this means that each day is a bit more fun for him. Ever since he popped out of my womb a year ago, I could see the little boy in him. That twinkle in his eye showing that he's desperately yearning to run. To climb and somersault and fall on the grass giggling. And I can't wait for him to be able to. Bring it on, I say.
Oh, and I made him a birthday crown. On Saturday night. Because I'm nuts like that.
Enjoy the video.
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comments
I think what impresses me most in the video, besides the undeniable momentum created by the choice music and kinetic editing, is how sure of himself Harvey seems in the pool, where he seems to know exactly what he wants, and what he perhaps doesn't care for. In the high chair, with the birthday cake, he seems perhaps still a bit confused.
I think he was a bit nonplussed at all the people staring at him and singing. He's usually pretty sure of himself when he's throwing things off the high-chair too.