The Fidg at 14 months (and 4 days)

Well, my child, you are 14 months old. Zoomed right past that 1 year mark and already have two months down of your second year.  Though I nod my head along with the common comment about how fast you grow, I'm usually lying when I do it.  You're growing up at an appropriate rate of speed.  It's not too fast.  Some days - usually in the evenings when mommy badly needs a cup of tea or to catch up on TV, it's too slow.  These are truthful parenting thoughts, sweets. By the time you're old enough to understand them, you probably, well, will.

But each day is a delight, at least for a moment.  You're so very talkative.  There are still few words we recognize, but you jabber away at us, the cats, your toys, the wall - anything listening.  You run and are starting to venture into jumping territory.  You enjoyed your first, full-on scraped knee this past weekend, but it - like the raging, take-no-prisoners head cold  you shared with your parents the week prior - didn't seem to slow you down.

We attended mommy's 10  year college reunion.  The event caused mommy to be much to introspective for weeks in advance and worry much too much about superficial concerns. And some deeper stuff, too.  In the end, though, I spent more time with you than classmates, which was alright by me and fine by you. You had so much fun! There were kids! And your first bouncey house! (In 18-20 years, I hope you'll be back in a bounce house on parents field, but with a nice, cold beer to enjoy. Responsibly, etc.)  You bounced with your god-cousin, Lucas - the first time you've been together and both mobile enough to semi-interact.  Your god mother and I think you had a great time.

As you grow, I'm still excited for our future activities, baking, playing, strolling, singing, laughing, joking, learning.  But I realize, sadly, that I am wishing away your babyhood and someday will realize how little of it I truly lived and enjoyed. It's hard to be present when you're juggling so much and always trying to cross things off the to-do list.  Don't be as much like mommy on that point, Fidg.  You've got to find the right balance between the way I and your daddy look at free time and life.  If you err, you should probably do so in daddy's direction.