golden boy

I  can't get enough of this almost-toddlerhood.  If I have disappeared from the blogosphere in the last couple of months, it is because baby is on the move, and he never moves faster than when he sees my hands on a laptop or a smartphone. I have had no choice but to unplug and live in the moment. What a blessing! This is such a golden age, and so short that if I blink I may miss it. The way he says "Bop!" as his punchline for every joke, or "That!" with an emphatically pointed finger, or most recently, "Baa Baa!" staring at the door longingly.  The way he pants like an excited puppy as he cruises around the door's frame from the living room to the vestibule and pauses outside the bathroom door, bouncing as he stands precariously against the closet doors.  The way he blows strawberries on my neck in complete earnestness, not understanding why the rest of us are dissolving into peals of laughter.  

The look he and his sister get the moment the other enters the room, as if he and she are the most fascinating people on earth.  The way he cuddles up and melts into my chest.  The way he giggles when I kiss his soft, round cheeks.  The intense focus in his expression as he watches us do the most ordinary things, things that are completely unprecedented in his experience.  The way he watches trees, birds, dogs...any living thing.  The way he hogs tv remotes and begs to touch anything that resembles a control button.  The soft, wide open, puckerless kisses he lands on my face.  The golden haze that seems to settle around him when he is curled on his tummy, fast asleep. Those fat little thighs and feet and fingers.  The two top teeth that grow larger every single day.  

His smile when we gently bump our foreheads together. The gusto with which he consumes even the most experimental concoctions. The way he sits in his high chair with a dishtowel over his head, turning from side to side and breathing in delighted anticipation for the moment he will yank it off in a wordless peek-a-boo. The nervous laughter that suggests he wants what I am eating. The coos, squeals, chirps, and grunts that will disappear when words become his primary form of communication. 

The way he makes our family feel more complete than it did one year ago. The way watching him become a boy brings sudden comprehension of my husband, and every other man I know. The concentration with which he lets go of the leather pouf, his favorite support (besides me), and takes two or three confident steps before sinking gracefully to the floor. The way he looks at me like I am the most beautiful, most important person on earth. That sweet, incredible little spirit that shines out of those eyes that have turned from blue to grey. I could go on...and on...and on...