The Right Decision

While it seems silly to experience some feelings of longing when Will tells me about the pointless meetings, long speeches, loss of network, et cetera during his first two pre-student days of school, I admit I did have a few twinges of jealousy. I miss my closest friendships at school and only wish I was there to commiserate/complain right along with them. That said, after my first two days alone with my toddler son, I am absolutely 100% sure we made the right decision. I have had so much fun with Ethan these past two days. It might be because I'm extra sensitive to the fact that I am fortunate to be home with him now, but he has seemed all the cuter, all the more lovable, and all the more fantastic to me. Here are a few mental snapshots that stand out to me from the past couple of days:

• sitting on the floor of your room in nothing but a t-shirt and diaper, morning bottle in your mouth with your head tipped back
• discovering the zinnias in the backyard for seemingly the first time and touching them gently, then not so gently (poor zinnias)
• spotting daddy when he came home from lunch and literally running down the driveway, arms outstretched, to give him a huge hug (This image, and a similar one from today, brought tears to my typically tearless eyes.)
• speaking your hilarious "digadigabagaga" language you have perfected and makes you sound like you're auditioning to be a minor alien character in a Star Wars movie
• picking up a weed and obediently throwing it in the bin, just like daddy taught you the day before, forcing me to wonder how long it will be before you know enough to not be entertained by child labor
• throwing your soccer ball to me, and by throwing I mean putting it behind your head and dropping it behind you
• vacuuming with me in the living room by grabbing the handle and helping me push
• running up to me and hugging my legs and burrowing your head into my pants before coming away with a great big smile up at me
• climbing into the car, unbeknownst to me or your dad, while I vacuumed it and standing on the seat with your hands on the steering wheel
• grabbing tomatoes from our garden, ripe or not, and the maniacal look of satisfaction brought on by your recent tomato-pilfering

And, finally...

• turning around in my lap during story time and putting your head on my shoulder in a melt-my-heart hug

Oh, Ethan, I love you more than a blog post could ever hope to capture, and these are just a few of the thousands of daily moments I treasure and will continue to treasure all year and in years to come.

And now, since pictures can sometimes speak louder than words, here are a few recent actual snapshots:

Here's Ethan looking at his first live fish. Grandpa Bill caught it for him in the lake, and it was hilarious to watch him watching it. Here, he has just thrown his shovel at the poor fish.
Close up of Ethan at our recent trip to the lake house. My family was there as well, which was a lot of fun but will not be pictorially documented due to family law concerning the display of beachwear on public forums.

Ethan loves this car!

Ethan spots some tomatoes...

...and he's got them!