turning two

I have a 9/11 baby. I've told the tale of the Toddles on this blog before, but I repeat: I have a 9/11 baby.

Who cares? Everybody's got to be born sometime. And yet, it resonates a bit. I have a 9/11 baby, and he is sunshine and fire and love. And today he is two years old.

There's the silly things about him getting older, like the new gDiapers having arrived (ooh, the colors are lovely and the fit of the dipes on him is fabulous. Bravo, gDipe team - you've really reinvented the diaper!). Our cloth inserts now fit perfectly into the gPants, as Kim from Montana's Diaper Store had promised. And the hemp prefolds are truly tough stuff - many, many washes later, it's holding up beautifully. Between the fabulous fit of the gDiaper pants and the absorbability of the hemp inserts, I am one happy mama.


There's the lovely things about him getting older, like the moment when he looked at my mum, while she sat shiva for her older brother. He ran in, looked her in the eye and said, 'I love you, Savta.' She nearly wept over his ginger curls - that small, careless-serious expression of love hit her in places untouched by the grave, polite friends who came to visit. And there's the way that he leans into me and says, 'I hug you, Mummy,' and does. Sunshine and fire and love. With a dash of giggles.

I woke up this morning, to find him lifting my shirt. 'I have nai-nais,' he informed me, grinned, wriggled and did. 'Yummy,' I was told. Sunshine and fire and love and delighted, deliberate motion - with brief pauses for snuggling.

There was life before the Toddles, and it was good. But this has been two years of Babes and Toddle-dom, and I am humbly grateful. He has been a gift, a challenge and an opportunity to love. When the Man and I rolled the genetic dice, we never expected the Toddles, and oh are we glad.

For those of you who are sans Toddle but calendrically lunar, a happy and healthy (Jewish) New Year. Shana Tova.
And for those of you who prefer your holiday greetings with a little more coolness, here's this from a bleader: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vOTOdBzSpYc

In the coming year, may we all learn some of the Toddles' joy, his fascination and absolute certainty that the world is full of things to learn and to love.
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Ah, the marvels of modern toydom. Check this out: http://sparkability.net/mobilehome.html The Man, however, points out that a recyclable dollhouse can also come from any number of stylish boxes around the house. And what the heck, we could paint 'em blue ourselves. Still, it's pretty neat.
Frankly, given how often kids like the box better than the gift, you have to figure that this one combines the best of the two. It's a gift *and* a box.

The Toddles' gift, on the other hand, is rather more plebian. And, budgetarily friendly! It cost precisely $12.50, and is some fun, chunky snap-together link things that create three dimensional structures. And it's small - and I resent the increase in our local toy population even so. Sigh. Maybe it is time for another toy purge?
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Readers, beware. Books ain't what they used to be: http://www.themorningnews.org/archives/reviews/lone_star_statements.php