Finding edges

I love change.  In fact I thrive on it.  There is exhilaration in the newness, in the rejuvenation that comes with change.  But there is always a natural anxiety, fear of unknowns and uncertainties.  I begin to visualize and conceptualize finding patterns of living and stability, try recreating place and belonging and routine.   All this to say that I love exploring and adventure, so long as there is a home base, a place to call our own.  Fortunate for me, Jordan's job creates these opportunities and having Gabriel gives cause for the planting of roots.

I am not alone in this need for equilibrium, I know.  Whenever Gabriel goes to bed, he rolls and kicks until he finds himself in a corner or at the edges of his crib, where he hits his head against the side, wailing at the top of his lungs before zonking off to sleep.  I think he has a love-hate relationship with the edges, the sides of his crib.  He longs venture, but also searches for the coziness of the boundaries while resenting the hardness of its structure. 

Gabriel is a wanderlust.  From the beginning, he has thrived on adventure and travel, the excitement that comes from seeing and experiencing new things.  Yet, at the same time, he needs and loves some routines built into his exploits.  Even if they are shifting and flexible, he seems to thrive on them.  No surprise there.  He is just like his mother.

We have quickly and smoothly fallen into a rhythm that works for us--early morning dog walks, afternoon dawdling, Thursdays at the library, late naps that allow for supper preparations, suppers together.  And we have carved out a burrow here, albeit temporary as it is.  We've discovered our neighborhood village complete with library, coffee shop and grocery store, as well as located the closest swings and dog park.  Our townhouse is flanked by other young families.  Would you believe that there is an seven-month-old ten feet across from us, an eight-month-old two doors down and a four-month-old four doors down the opposite direction?  And of them, two of the mothers stay home with their babies.  Gabriel has "insta-friends," all girls.

Now that we have settled into a familiar ebb and flow, time to discover "the city" and Old Town Alexandria.