Adventures in Being Myself

"Hi, Mama! I ate all my lunch!" "...and I really, really enjoyed it!" "Peanut Butter and Jelly is my favorite!" "Jeah!"

In my search for inspiration, collected thoughts, cogent paragraphs and witty rejoinders, I'm settling for another (stolen) meme to clear the writer's block: Let's start out with something oh so clever, whats your sign? Virgo. Congratulations! You just had a baby boy! Whats his name? I actually did have a baby boy 16 months ago. His name is Peter Zane Biagi LeBoutillier. If I were to have another baby boy, his name would be Aidan. Congratulations ! It's a baby girl! You name her? Ava or Lila Look at your recent calls, who was your last missed call from? Ashley. What is bothering you right now? Last night. What is your favorite color? Blue. Who's the last person you texted? PG. Is there a high chance of you going out to the movies soon? No. Are you easily scared by horror/thriller films?Yes. If you had $100 would you spend or save it? I would spend it. If there was a large spider in the room, would you stay? As long as the spider stayed on its own side of the room. D...

After church, before a nap. No, Mama, I won't smile. Paci gooooood... Loot from the Easter Bunny. Round 1.

A boatload of toys (and I mean that literally...Zane's toybox is an actual boat...) and what does Zane choose to play with? Dental floss. The special dental floss. Woven. With fluoride. For sensitive teeth. The $3.59-a-box special dental floss. His mission, seemingly, was to remove all of said floss from the box; and he succeeded. I can't really complain, though; he happily amused himself while I dressed for work. It was all pretty cute actually. Reach woven floss with fluoride: $3.59. Happy 16-month-old toddler: priceless.

I think it may be time to lock the trash cabinet. This morning I found two cordless phones and one sippy cup in the household garbage bin. In other news unrelated to garbage, Zane's new favorite words are "woooooooow" (he usually busts out with it when presented with a meal), "whooooooaaaa", "ballllllllll", "wa-wu" (waffle) and "buh-bye." He is also blowing raspberries with his tongue out, which just cracks me up. He has also taken to pointing his tiny finger to my belly button and saying "bay-bee." I know Zane is an old soul, and I can't help but wonder if he is asking for a baby brother or sister. PG and I are mesmerized by the cognitive development taking place right before our eyes. Zane understands how to put things away in their proper place; he will come find us when we call to him; he can distinguish between bunny and bear and monkey when we ask him to bring a specific toy to us; and he will come sit down in f...

Lesson learned: it just keeps getting better. For about two months before my baby turned a year old, I was wistful and sad about the (rapid) passing of infancy. The sadness permeated every sector of my life and sort of "paralyzed" me for a few weeks as we careened toward December 12, 2008. It's another one of those things that nobody tells you when you become a mother: it's the biggest and most wonderful thing to give birth, until you begin to realize that your baby becomes more independent of you with every passing day. Because Zane will likely be my only child, my feelings about his transition from newbie, to baby, to infant, to toddler were particularly keen . How could it go so fast? (I know I was warned, but still...) Did I miss anything? I hope not... Remember when?...and the "when" was only a few weeks earlier. Sigh. But, then, after the Big oh-1!...after marking the day with all of the pomp and ceremony befitting such an occasion, Zane was the same s...