Monday, October 3, 2011

20 hours and 53 minutes left....

Dearest Ambrose,

Right now, right this very second, you are 23 months, 30 days, 3 hours and 7 minutes old, though your birthday technically begins at midnight which is much sooner.

The countdown... yeah, it's nearly done.

Tomorrow you will no longer be known by a month but by a year.

*Sigh*

You were all of nine days old when we first held you and took you home. I told your age in days until you were a month. It was hard when I had to stop doing that....

I told your age in weeks until you reached 3 months. Again, that was hard to stop.

When you hit a year I was willing to refer to you as "one" instead of "twelve months"... until you were thirteen months. Then I went back to counting by months.

I've even added in halves as long as I could.

This afternoon when I drop you off at the YMCA nursery, I will sign you in. And I will write "23m", all squished for lack of space, into your age category. Then I will go to yoga and try not to cry.

And tomorrow? I'll drop you off at the YMCA nursery, sign you in, and write the ever so simple "2" in your age category. And, again, yoga and trying not to cry.

I know that tomorrow is a place marker, just another day really in your life that happens to net you some extra presents, a cake, and a snazzy "Birthday Boy" shirt that a friend gave me from her own little boy. You've been steadily changing and morphing into a child already, and I acknowledge that. You won't wake up in the morning potty trained, dressing yourself, speaking paragraphs, and reading. It will be a normal day, where we read books, cuddle, play on the floor, and laugh a lot.

But even so, tomorrow makes it official doesn't it?

Tomorrow I stop counting your age in months.... because tomorrow you are no longer a baby.

And seriously, little man? This year coming up? Being two years old? It's gonna ROCK!!!

We are going to have so much fun! You'll learn so much and grow so much and be able to do so much, and oh man just thinking about it all...

We brought your brother home when he was two years old, and I made a lot of mistakes, a lot of things we've worked to fix that I hope to do differently this time around. And even so, we still had a lot of fun, a LOT of fun, and the thought of experiencing all of those discoveries and new skills and mental leaps with you as well? Dude, I'm totally psyched!

And just like every other birthday or milestone, I'm sure, 100% sure, that I'll embrace it with open arms once it's here. Tomorrow I'll wake up utterly ecstatic, excited for a full day of birthday fun! I'll be so proud to cuddle and congratulate my sweet two year old boy :)

But today?

Today you are my one year old. Today you are my infant. Today you are still my baby. And I'm going to miss my baby.

I love you little bean. It's been a wild and fun ride so far, and I can't wait to see what the next year has in store for us, even if I'm weepy about closing off our last year.

Love, Mom

PS-Can you tell your big brother to slow down a bit? I finally adjusted to having a five year old, and I've accepted that he's a Kindergartner, but come on!!! He's turning SIX years old next month? For serious? Ugh! I'm too young and cool to have a six year old!!!

1 comment:

Sarah said...

Wow. Time flies.
What a beautiful little boy he is too! Happy Almost Birthday Ambrose!