Help Wanted, Needed?

So now he loves wearing his costume and roaring at us, go figure

Things are never static in our house; between two busy attorneys (one of whom, Adrian, will be starting a new job as Counsel!), one wild 2 year old and living in DC (and all that brings), things are usually always in motion.  Recently, with Teddy's budding interest in animals and movies, we have tried to seek out opportunities to do things like the zoo, the aquarium, museums, etc so that he can see those things he loves in person.  (At the Museum of Natural History, he liked the dinosaurs but LOVED the stuffed gorillas.  He is semi-obsessed with gorillas for no apparent reason other than he just likes them.  We had to buy him a toy gorilla instead of the super cool lion. Go figure.)  Usually this means that an entire weekend day is planned around such activity, which is great, but it also means that we have to fit in the routine things somehow (you know like grocery shopping, clothes washing) on top of seeing our family and friends. I think being over-scheduled as a two year old is probably a bit much but I have to say he loves it. We visited the Naval Academy and he loved seeing all the boats and planes there on display.  I love seeing things the way he does and then hearing him explain them, it makes all the effort worth it.

I am also noticing that I am losing my title of Chief Helper to Teddy and I am not sure I like it one bit.  I spent weeks that turned into months wishing that he would get to the next stage, you know the one that would let him do more for himself.  I wanted him to learn to feed himself so that I could have a minute to eat, learn to walk so he could get where he wants to be and all these other skills.  Now that he has most of them, I am sad to say I am seeing him need me less and less.  Between hearing him say "No Mamma, Teddy do it" or now more often, "No Mamma, Daddy" I am not sure what breaks my heart more.  It is a tribute to Adrian though and I would not take that away from him.  He is as hands on as I can imagine and Teddy loves spending time with him.  I think I am just having a hard time sharing in all the things I used to "have" to do for him to now sharing or watching him do them himself.  My baby is growing up (but he got mad today when we called him our baby, he took that as a slight).  So though I want him to grow up, I am now keenly aware that it is passing faster than I thought possible, which is never the case with things I wish would go faster.

Playing at the Naval Academy 

So Teddy, my darling boy, just like our favorite bedtime book, please remember, I love you forever, I like you for always, as long as you live, my baby you will be.  No matter what it is, when it is or where it is, I will always be here to help you, even if you don't want, don't think you need it or don't like it, it's just part of the deal.