It's Flying By

Marking the passage of time as we put up the new calendar feels bittersweet this year.  Before Cora, it signified only more candles on my own cake.

But now that I am watching Cora grow too, the moments seem more important, the small milestones more momentous. 

In just two weeks we'll be putting another year of her life behind us as well, as she will officially become two years old.  And even though she is still a baby in some ways, the little girl in her is emerging more and more each day. 

So much of the time her development seems to happen in slow motion, as she learns to accomplish things in gradual layers, rather than at the warp speed that comes naturally to so many other children.  But I look at her now and see how much she is accomplishing, and how impossible it is to take it for granted.  I look at photos of her even months ago and see how changed she is. 



And of course, so much of me wants to preserve her as she is, to stop time from passing and revel in holding my baby tightly.  The rest of me can't wait for her to reveal more of herself to me as she grows and changes.

Yes, bittersweet.

This was a lovely year.  A year of some stresses, to be sure, but of many firsts and many wonderful moments with our little family and the rest of our family and friends.

I'm looking forward to another year of firsts; to watch Cora grow into toddlerhood.  The list of things she needs to learn seems daunting, yet I know in my heart that she will get there and that where she is right now is just fine.

Silly goose!