One Year Old

I know, I know... it's been nearly two weeks since the last post.  Which makes me a bad blogger, perhaps, but I think it at least suggests that I'm a good mother.  Because the very thought of writing out my thoughts about Asa turning one has had me shrinking away from the computer.  How does one express the singular mind-trip of this baby:

This tiny, delicate being who needed so much help in his first days... how on earth could he have turned into a little boy in the barest blink of an eye?

A little boy with teeth, curls, and a sense of humor.  A little boy who is so very close to walking, if he only knew it.  A little boy who has discovered the joy of words: "kiggy ka" (kitty cat), "Mommy", "Mumma", "Ap-Ap" (Pap Pap), "Ga" (Granna) and, for better or for worse, "No."  A little boy who crawls over to his high chair when he is hungry.  A little boy who is continually demonstrating his understanding of what we say and do, and who makes choices in how he responds to us.

Maybe it's an especially poignant subject because of the birth, just days before Asa's birthday, of my first great-niece, Taylor.  I look at pictures of this tiny little creature in her parents' arms, and it brings me back - knowing that they're living those first days right now makes it somehow fresher than my own fatigue-riddled memories of Asa's infancy.

I look from Taylor to Asa, and I think that in so many ways, it gets harder as they get older, but it's so much more fun... and then I think that perhaps it's easier now, and more frustrating.  It's complicated and crazy and awesome and miraculous all at once.

Is it any wonder it took me so long to blog this one?

Happy Birthday, little Asa-Bean.  We love you more than any words could express.