peter growing up.

Here are some real birthday pictures for my big 2 year old.  They represent who this little light is so much better than those blurry birthday ones from the last post.

Oh boy, I love this kid.  He is so full of life and light and joy.  Just thinking about him makes me happy. 

Thinking about him getting bigger and bigger makes me kind of sad though.  I’m noticing that this is a common theme to this blog lately.  I don’t want my baby to grow up.

Remember this tiny little guy?  I really just blinked and he went from that tiny speck in this picture:  To this big undie wearing boy:I guess there was a lot of stuff in-between:  

But really it’s going by too fast.  I’m learning that this motherhood stuff does just whiz by.  This is something I couldn’t have supposed during those first few mothering weeks as I struggled to figure out how to live in my new world with my ever needy baby Hazel suddenly sticking to every part of my life.  I remember listening to a song one day about 6 weeks into my mothering career.  The lyrics were about how you just turn around and your baby is suddenly a young man walking out of the door.  I remember standing in the kitchen chopping onions with baby hazel squawking to be fed in the back ground as I listened and I balked out loud as the choir sang those lyrics. “Yeah, right,”  I thought to myself, “when I turn around it’s still the same day, she’s just hungry again, or poopy again, or crying again.”  Time did not feel like it was speeding by, in fact those long days felt like they would never end.  But then they do and the next baby comes and they grow quicker than the first and before you know it you have four ‘big kids’ and you beg your ‘baby’ every night as you place him in his too-small-for-him crib to “PLEASE STOP GROWING UP!”

But he does.  And boy is he ever proud of it. 

  

Sorry for the overkill on photos.  Once I actually got my real camera out, I just couldn’t get enough. 

As much as I mourn my baby growing up, I like looking at these Peter growing up pictures.  It helps me see that we’ve been rolling along, progressing.  That we are all growing up.  I’m learning and growing right along side these kids of mine, not in spite of them, but because of them.  And, I have to say, I’m getting better at keeping plants alive -  or, mostly just replacing dead ones more promptly.   Peter is really into doing tricks that involve flailing his body from couch to ottoman and back to couch.  It’s kind of startling to watch in real time because he really just does a totally trusting dead man’s fall.  But as horribly executed as it almost always looks, he has yet to hurt himself.      I’m no sure there could be a happier kid.  Jeff and I lay in bed at night and marvel at how well adjusted and happy and confident and fun this guy is.  Then we start wondering what makes him so different from '*some* of the other children, then we remember having the same conversation about each of the other children when they were this age.  This is just a golden age for our children.  Maybe that’s why I want to freeze him in time.  I know what stage comes next in the Shumway progression of things.  It’s not quite as pretty.     I think this is my favorite picture yet :I love his lips pursed out in his car chugging sound, the shape of his baby belly hanging over those big boy undies, the intention with which he is focused on making that car go.        Peter is a golden boy.  When I nuzzle my face into the nape of his neck I want to guzzle up all his golden light. Some things I love about Peter at 2:

• There is something so pure and untouched about Peter.  He hasn’t gotten to the stage where he can do wrong yet.  We are rarely frustrated or annoyed or angry at him.   Everyone cuts him slack.  And we all hug and kiss and adore him until he runs away for air.  He is so easily loved and that love bounces right back, bathing us all in it.  It’s a magical thing for our family to have him around.
• He is funny.  We all get a kick out of things that he does, and when we laugh he goes on and on, quite a comedian.
• He is not much of a talker, but when he does talk, it is mostly saying “Yah!” and “No!” with great enthusiasm but very little understanding of what he is agreeing or disagreeing to.  The big kids get a kick out of this and ask him all kinds of funny questions to see which emphatic response he will give.  Big kid: “Peter, did you just toot?”  Peter: “Yah!”  Big kid: “Peter are you really cute?”  Peter: “NO!” Big kid: “Peter, do you like to poop in your pants?”  Peter: “Yah!”  You get the idea.
• He has been pleasant to potty train (and I never in a million years would guess that I would type those two p words in the same sentence.)  I detest potty training, but somehow he has made it quite enjoyable.  It just kind of fun spending time with this guy.  We still have a ways to go I think to be in the clear with this kid and the potty thing, so I may have to retract that statement one of these days soon.
• Peter is full of hugs and kisses and cuddles and will sit with me and let me sing him lullabies until I’m out of breath.  My other kids wouldn’t do that.  And, I swear he knows when I need a hug.  He has a sixth sense.
• He is super into pretending he is a doggie lately and crawls around with his tongue sticking out, licking everything he can find.  Yuck.
• Peter just wants to make us happy.  And that’s always pleasant.
• Peter LOVES his big siblings.  And they love him.  He squeals with delight upon seeing Charlie and Hazel after school and is always sad to drop Em off at preschool.  But then, once we are alone in the car I ask him where each of his family members are and he shrugs at each of their names until I get to my name and his name and he gets a huge smile on his face, realizing that it’s our time together.  Just mommy and Peter.  I’m not sure if he likes that as much as I do, but I love it. 
• Peter is dying to be big and grow up.  Just the past few days (since potty training began) he has been stringing sentences together, voicing more of his desires (yikes….I see what’s coming) and strutting around the place like he owns it. 
• Peter has got the greatest run I’ve ever seen.  He takes me literally anytime I tell him to go “run” and do something.  He uses his entire body, gets it all swinging as he puts one foot directly in front of the other.  I’ve got to video that one.
• I love putting Peter to bed at night.  He is happy to move through his routine.  He loves his books and gets obsessed with one for a week or so, wanting it again and again.  This week it’s “Where the Wild things Are” and we change Max into Peter and he growls and gnashes and rolls his eyes as we read.   He also insists now on kneeling to pray before I put him in his crib.  He kneels so reverently while I say a prayer telling Heaven how much i love this boy. 

 

“Young boys should never be sent to bed. They always wake up a day older.” – J.M. Barrie Peter Pan