22 April 2009

Three

My son turned three yesterday.

Three.

Wow.

I know how cliche it sounds to type this, but it really, truly seems like yesterday...

...when I first held him and looked into his eyes.



...when I heard him cry for the first time.

...when I wondered if he would ever stop crying.

...when I asked my husband how he felt about only children.
...when he took his first bath and made the same face I do when I get a good pedicure.

...when he slept through the night for the first time and I cried all night long because I was convinced he would starve to death if he didn't eat every 2 hours.

...when he wouldn't sleep in his bed, so his pediatrician told us to let him sleep in his carseat. And he slept like that for three months.

...when we put him in his own bed for the first time (at nine months) and steeled ourselves for a long night of wailing and gnashing of teeth--and he never even whimpered.

...when he smiled the first time.


...when he had to have minor surgery at 6 months, and I cried more than he did.


...when he did his little army crawl instead of crawling like a "normal" child.


...when he refused to walk until he was absolutely sure he could do it without falling.


...when he said, "Dada" for the first time, and laughed at me when I asked him to say Mama.


...when I would sit on the back porch and feed him while I sang Don Williams songs to him.


...when his hair began to stand straight up and nothing would lay it down.


...when he laughed out loud for the first time. For my mom and no one else.



...when we took his one year pictures at a time when he was teething, and he cried the entire time--until the photographer brought out a tractor.




...when he threw a screaming fit in the middle of Cheddars because the genius of a waiter thought it was a good idea to give a one year old a ceramic plate. And mommy disagreed.

...when he got his first (and last) professional hair cut.



...when he first watched Blue's Clues in the car and was transfixed for the entire road trip.



...when he brought me his blue blanket and wanted me to make him a cape so he could be superman.
...when he got his pig nose from the Hog Festival and refused to take it off.


...when he first experienced Chuck E. Cheese.


...when he said "I love you" for the first time.




What a wild, beautiful adventure it has been so far.