Party #1 - post-cake face

Z's first 1st birthday party was at home yesterday. This was his face after the pasta, cheese, milk and then the yummy brownie cupcake. I love that you can see his chocolate-y teeth and totally hyped-up eyes. Fortunately he was pretty ready to crash after this bath.

I ran the numbers last night and realized that A will likely graduate from high school in 2024 and Z in 2027. That's the first thought that really made me pause and almost brought tears to my eyes. Thinking of those milestones as something tangible, however far off (and we all know how time flies), really caught my attention and made me start to think about how much I want to cherish this time with my little guys. Of course, they're growing up so fast. What's a mom to do?

Z's already walking up a storm and just started talking this week. He said "Hi Dada" and waved when G came home from work on Wednesday, and then said it while waving two more times at dinner. Also during dinner, he started clapping his hands, but I think it was his imitation of the sign for "more".

I've even taken down the gates on the stairs for the majority of the day because Z is so accomplished with going up and coming down without incident. When both boys are on the stairs together, I watch them like a hawk, but individually, they're doing great. Plus we're instituting stair rules like "No touching" and "No playing" on the stairs. The biggest drawback is that Z now is going through the phase where it's fun to take various items and throw them down the stairs. *sigh*