Time flies

I'm so often amazed by the changes I see in my son that I sometimes forget that the rest of the world is changing too. Case in point, every summer for the past five years, my niece has come to visit. This year was no exception.

The first year she came, we did all the typical touristy stuff. She was 13 and looked like this:

The two summers after Milo was born were a little less exciting for her. The first summer, I had a 3-month-old and was exhausted from the every-two-hours 24/7 breastfeeding. But we still had some fun. And my then-15-year-old niece looked like this:

This summer, her visit was shorter (mostly due to our living arrangements at the moment) but it was probably the most fun since that first visit. She and I went to Paint the Town for some girl time without Milo or the S.O. We also did some shopping and made our annual trip to the zoo.

My little niece has grown into a young woman. She's smart and confident and totally opinionated. She's also beautiful. And loves her little cousin so much.

He loves her too, though you can't tell from this photo

I love this kid like she were my own. Her dad should be one proud papa. (I'm sure he is.) Too soon, she'll be all grown up, out in the wide world on her own. And she'll do great.

23 months

Dear Milo,

You are 23 months old today. Sometimes the past almost two years seems like they've flown by, other times it feels like a lifetime.

You seem to change and grow every single day. You are getting to be such a big boy, and it's often hard to remember how little you were not so very long ago. Because, really 23 months isn't such a long time (even though for you, it's been a lifetime). Thank goodness for all the pictures we've taken.

You, just a few hours old

You took your first plane ride this month -- and your first vacation that didn't involve staying at a relative's house. It was all pretty exciting.

As you can plainly see.

I was pretty nervous at the prospect of flying with a toddler, but you were a champ. You were well-behaved, then just took a nice long nap.

We went to San Diego to enjoy some sun and surf. We took you to the zoo and some museums -- and, of course, the beach. You and Daddy ended up with colds so we didn't do as much as we might have, but we had a really great time.

You got to meet one of Daddy's cousins, and I think she was quite taken with you, even though you slept through a lot of our outing with her.

You're kind of obsessed with trains at the moment. I don't expect that to go away any time soon. You also really like hippos (or as you call them "meebos") right now which really makes me smile. Because I have a bit of an obsession with them.

You've started calling me "Mom" sometimes. I'm not sure if you're switching to that or if you just get lazy and don't want to pronounce the second part of "Mama." Either way, I don't think I like it. It's too grown up. You are trying out new words all the time. But when you don't know a word, you just kind of babble something. At the zoo, "Bye bye, turblabla" to the tortoises. It's really cute though.

You do so many cute things that you know are cute. You lay down, pretend to snore, then pop up and say, "Oh. Hi." It's just too cute. You are also requesting certain songs to be sung, including "ABDD" and "Up Above," as well as "Itsy Bitsy Spider."

I think you are the cutest thing in the world. When someone else tells me you're handsome or cute or adorable, I can feel my chest swell with pride. At the airport, you were reading letters out loud and a lady heard you -- a retired teacher, no less -- and commented on how impressive it was for your age. I just about burst from the pride I felt.

It's actually kind of surprising that I don't just explode from all the pride and love and joy I feel just having you in my life. The fact that you're smart and beautiful is just icing on the cake. Which you're also kind of obsessed with right now.

I love you, my smart, beautiful, wonderful son.

Love,
Mama