The Fascinating Lil Mootz!

Every night, the last thing I do before crawling into bed is say good night to Lil Mootz one last time. I tiptoe into his room, touch his silky blond head and tell him I love him just one more time. Part of me is doing it because I’m a paranoid mama and I need to make sure he’s still breathing and the other part of me does it because I just can’t get enough of him.

It’s amazing how one little being can fascinate a person. I am truly fascinated by Lil Mootz. Every thing he does amazes me.

The way he stumble-walks, why he points at the things he does, what he’s trying to say, how one item can captivate his attention, when he really seems to understand what I’m saying, the way he takes up his whole bed when he sleeps, the faces he makes, when he tries a new food, when he learns something new, how he blows kisses…EVERY THING he does is astonishing.

Lil Mootz is a truly fantastic little person. And I don’t necessarily mean in the “He’s my kid, he’s awesome!” sort of way. I mean it in the “How can something go from barely functional newborn to tripping talking tantrum-throwing terrific toddler in a year in a half!?”

And I just can’t get enough of it. I love every single minute of it. Even the tantrums and oh boy, are there a lot of those going on lately. I want to watch Lil Mootz every chance I get. I want to see what new things he is learning and what he does with that new information.

Of course, Stonewall and I are more excited than Lil Mootz when he does something new.  It's so exhilarating to watch Lil Mootz try and learn something new.  Heck, it's exhilarating watching him sleep which isn't so new... One day he doesn't understand the concept of his rocking horse, but the next day he's climbing all over it and making it rock so much I'm afraid he's going to tip it over.

The whole talking part is especially interesting.  Lil Mootz knows what certain objects are.  If I say cup, he points to his cup and grunts.  He knows what a cup is and that his milk or juice comes from the cup.  However, hearing him say a new word for the first time is a huge rush.  It doesn't even have to be the entire word.  Over the weekend we were trying to get him to say cracker.  Eventually he said, "Cru-r."  That was close enough.  Stonewall, my mom and I were all, "OMG! He said cracker!"  For all we know he meant, "I need the crapper."  or "Check out the PT Cruiser." or none of the above.

A majority of this fascination of just watching and observing Lil Mootz and getting excited over his accomplishments comes from loving him so gosh darn much.  (I mean, really, to the moon and back again doesn't even begin to describe it...)  Another part of it though just comes from  the wonder of it all.  How every human being goes from this defenseless little baby to this moving, growing, thinking, understanding little person.

So many people hope to witness a miracle in their lifetime.  I'd tell them to watch a child learn something new and explore their world.  I'm convinced just getting to watch my baby grow up is a miracle.