Well... No More Babies

Today we hit a milestone that I'm a little sad about because it is really driving home that Sam isn't a baby anymore. Duh! You might say as I often do (internally) when I hear people bemoan that their 3-year-old has abandonned the last vestiges of babyhood. Now that I'm here I understand a little more what those Moms were saying/feeling. He's our last and we had so little of his babyhood as it was. Only now that I see it fading (and fast!) am I understanding how much we missed. He was walking within weeks of coming home so not a lot of infant left in him even then.

Anyway, back to milestones. Today we took the kids to the indoor play yard at the local mall. They LOVE to go there and we are there once or twice a week, sometimes more. There is a special toddler area where I always encourage Sam to stay in. He doesn't. He wants to follow his big sis around. The kid area has a sizeable play structure and two slides. Access is gained via a slippery ramp at one end or some giant steps (3 feet or so in height) at the other. I maintained that while I wouldn't help him up at either end, once he could negotiate the entrances on his own he was free to climb on up. Until today, he couldn't and would spend his time running happily on the floor level. Today he made it up the ramp. Slow and steady and with lots of glances at me as he negotiated the slippery rise. That was the first time up. By the second he was just flying. He had a great time and it wasn't as impossible to get him down when we wanted to leave as I'd anticipated (parents aren't allowed to climb on the structure so if Johnny won't come when called you are S.O.L.)

As I watched him run about happily and so VERY proud of himself it hit hard that there is very little baby left in my baby. I'm pretty proud of him though and I still got to carry my exhausted little one up to his crib when we got home as he passed out the moment the car started moving in a forward direction. For now, I'll hold on to that.