Like a weed

My little boy is becoming a man. I can't fight it, and most of the time I don't want to. Turner is far beyond the mimicking stage. He has his own ideas and feelings and everyday he's getting better at expressing himself. He's learning what just about everything under the sun is and what is does.
Last week we were talking about boys and girls. He told me he and Papa were boys, then he went down his list of friends-all of whom are girls. He named his Aunt Abba-girl, all his uncles-boys. I started feeling left out so I asked him "Is Mommy a girl?" "No you not girl, you are my girl". Again, mark this down as another reason that no woman alive will be good enough for my son. He is either the sweetest child living, or the most calculating one I have ever met. I wouldn't want to be anyone else's girl.
My son has been being the most helpful little man I could hope for. The weather is good here so we play outside. Our friends are great so we play with them every morning. Utopia thy name is Utah. Now there is proof that my growing belly has cut off the blood supply to my brain.
I am giving in to this idea that I need to take it easy and sit still. Now if given the option of continuing on at a manic pace and getting a ton of things done for the next six weeks I would. But, my hips and left leg won't allow it. So here I sit typing instead of rearranging furniture and scooting along the floor scrubbing base boards. I am sure I will now over shoot my goal of gaining less than thirty pounds if I am not able to go, go, go like I want to. But it won't be the end of the world.
I am beginning to have foggy recollections of those first few weeks with Turner. I remember wearing Brad's boxer shorts to bed and thinking that I looked like a cylinder. I was fortunate I didn't look pregnant, but I didn't have a waist for a few weeks. I remember the shock when I got reacquainted with my thighs and feet, all things I had spent months with out being able to see.
I have been doing some thinking. So hold on and bare with me. I have always thought that most things in life happen for a reason, part of God's craftiness I suppose. Do the physical changes that come with pregnancy help you prepare for the emotional changes that happen once you are a parent? I think so. So no matter how selfish a woman, pregnancy takes her focus from thoughts of only herself and forces them to start including another human being. The nights spent with tiny feet in your ribs and getting up to pee every hour strips your mind and gets you ready to focus completely on someone else. Your blood volume increases from roughly eight pints to twelve pints. This massive increase strengthens your heart. So does this help prepare you for the increase in love you are capable of feeling once your baby arrives? Stretch marks? Not everyone gets them on the outside, but I know I have my share of them on my heart. It grew so much on November third two years ago that it nearly exploded. Pregnant women are short of breath all the time, especially in the last month. Is this getting me ready for all the moments that will take my breath away? Maybe.
Having something "Take your breath away" is just a figure of speech. If you believe that you don't have an adventurous two year old. Turner literally takes my breath away all the time. Last week I handed him his clothes and asked him to get himself dressed, I only expected it to keep him busy long enough to dress myself. He walked into my room five minutes later and I said "Look I dressed by myself". I was dumbfounded. When did he become able to do this?
Why doesn't he have to ask my permission to grow up? Well he doesn't, so I am trying not miss any of it. All the magical things he's learning to do will happen with or without me. I just have to be willing to sit back and watch, and of course try to have the camera ready. If I look closely enough I am sure I can actually see him growing. I know it happens everyday at nap time. When I lay him down he's my tiny sweet little baby and when he gets up and walks out of his room he is my sweet, not so little boy. If having one child make time go by this fast, will two double the speed with which it flies by? I suspect it will, but I have always loved the wind whipping through my hair.