Inevitable

I have just gotten back to the blogging world with a return to our "normalcy" of part time single parenting. I know that sounds odd but that's our normal. The first night I finished a large book and read for five hours. The second night I caught up on some shows on Hulu. Tonight, I'll try a few posts. I have a lot of material just not a lot of time.

I originally wrote this while sitting in a class room for 6 1/2 hours back in early December. Much has changed since then but I wanted to keep a timeline of my thoughts.

There comes a point in every parent's life when a child changes stages. I cannot honestly identify one point in time when I recognized H was no longer a baby and became a toddler instead. He began to do more, understand more, communicate more, and look a little less "babyish." The past fifteen months have seen an entire universe of changes. He hopes, jumps, runs, talks up a storm (except at his school's fall program where he stood like a statue for twenty minutes hands and arms around his face - my heart went out to him.) He does not like to "perform" but he likes to show Mommy what he can do.

"Mommy, Mommy! Look at this! (as he tried to do a jump he SAW at his gym class but does no even try to do at the class itself. He has participated very little but can come home and out of the blue will execute something exactly as he saw it done at class. He so rarely misses things.

"Mommy, why did Daddy say stupid?"
"He was frustrated by the DVD player, honey."
"But why did he say stupid?"
"We say things sometimes we shouldn't when we get frustrated.:
"Oh."

"Mommy, (insert question here from some past time period as I have to rack my brain to figure out what he is talking about) that happen yes'day?"

Anyway, I can absolutely identify when H was a toddler no more.

Maybe I already suspected it but the absolute knowledge came one day when I picked him up for bed. He suddenly seemed so LONG! I swear he grew 3 inches overnight. He no longer fit all curled up in my lap when he played "kitty." He just feels like a little boy.

It was the first time I had to fully acknowledge that I felt physically H was growing up. It's all good of course. I love to talk with him, play with him (most of the time), and interact with him on an hour by hour basis. The mind of a three year old is a wondrous and perplexing thing. I'm not sad he's not a baby any more. I am, however, astounded it seems to have happened overnight.