Milestones

Yesterday, I came out to the living room and Jonathon said, 'Look mom, Spiderwick Chronicles is on tv.' Now, Jonathon has just started wanting to rent movies, so I have been paying attention to which kid movies are coming out and when. I'm thinking that movie just came out on video a couple of months ago, how could it already be on tv? I grab the remote and start checking to see what channel it is, because I am starting to get the sneaking suspicion that he has ordered a movie from pay per view. Yep, that's exactly what has happened. I explain to him that he has ordered a movie on the tv that we have to pay for. That it costs money to watch that movie. He is sitting back with a look on his face that tells me that he had a funny feeling about what he was doing when he did it, but he's realizing that he made the wrong choice. So, I sit down and start watching the movie with him. Hey, we've already gotten it, why not enjoy it? A few minutes later he says, "I didn't have to pay anybody anything..." Then I have to explain that I will have to pay when the bill comes and that it is much less expensive to run to our little movie store up the street. After a while I get up to do my load of laundry and am really over the whole thing because, between you and me, him ordering a pay per view movie ain't the worst thing I'm going to have to deal with all day, if you know what I'm sayin. A few minutes later as I'm bringing more laundry into the living room he says, "Momma, I'm really sorry." It caught me a little off gaurd. He's a good kid so he's apologized many times (mostly when prompted) but this was the first time that he has genuinely shown remorse on his own. Remember, I was already over it, so, I said, "Oh, honey, it's okay, you just can't ever do it again and it looks like we've bought a whole day of seeing this movie, so be prepared to watch it, all day." Which we did. They layed out their blankets on the floor in front of the tv when it was time for bed and watched it one last time.

The point to this whole story is that my baby is growing up. He may not look like a baby, but he is my baby. He's the baby that slept with me until he was three, the only one of my babies that slept in a bassinet in my room, the baby that I held 24 hrs a day because I didn't know we could lay them down on something besides a lap, my very first baby. And he is not a baby anymore. And I'm okay with that. As babies grow older, they learn to do more and more things that show you their own individual personalities. The first time your baby can say, 'I love you' or 'I'm sorry' makes it all okay.

He'll be starting 2nd grade today and although it's a little bittersweet to see my baby being a little boy, getting to watch this boy become a man will be one of the highlights of my life.