Always Be My Baby

Isaac is not my baby boy anymore.


I mean, of course he is still my baby boy, but you know. He's not a baby anymore. Like overnight, he turned into a toddler. Into a little boy.


A couple weeks ago, as we were preparing to leave for daycare, my husband was laying sick on the couch. I was packing up the diaper bag, and I put Isaac down and told him to give Daddy a kiss and say goodbye since we were leaving. He ran over to Ben and gave him a kiss, said "Bye Bye Dad", then ran to the door and looked at me expectantly. "Mama! Go! Mama! GOOOOOO!"

I stopped in my tracks and just stared at him. I took him in, and realized "Oh my god, he's a little boy now." He looked like a little boy, staring impatiently at his mother. It made me so proud, and broke my heart at the same time.

He's gotten so big, so very fast. He's a full blown toddler that has a full, exuberant personality and mind. He voices his opinion, he plans, he executes. He has clear preferences. Every day he busts out new phrases, words, and skills. Things he has learned on his own, without me prompting him. He's like a sponge. He is just soaking everything up. I look at him and I can tell he is working something out in his mind. We can have whole conversations now. And most of the time they make sense. He is putting together phrases with ease, like "I see them!" He tells me decisively if he wants to watch "Ma-nneeeeeee!" (Handy Manny), "Ma-Mo!" (MM Clubhouse), or "o-sho!" (Oso). Sometimes he even tells me what he wants to eat.

His hair is blonder, his eyes still a blue-y gray with golden middles. He has a mouth full of chompers, 16 by my last count. We brush them every night and he LAUGHS. He runs, oh how he RUNS. He jumps. He climbs. He counts to three.

I can't really describe it. He is just changing so darn FAST.

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We figured out the daycare situation. For the next few weeks, he will be going to his alternate daycare lady, Miss C. Then in mid August, he will start at the daycare center down the street one day a week until November, when he will go full time (3 days). It will be better for him. This daycare will soon have a preschool program, so god willing, I won't have to move him for a long while.

We feel like this is better for his learning and social skills. He's such a social little boy. Even I have to admit that I was not thrilled about him being the solo kid at Miss K's for a long time.

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Despite the changes in him, I look at him and remember cradling him in my arms at 3 in the morning, just me and him in the quiet. I remember him wrapping his little hand around one finger, whereas now he holds my hand. As we rapidly approach 18 months, I know for the rest of his life I will look at him and always see my baby boy.