The wave

Eli has been practicing waving. It started out by doing the hand motion with his arm by his side. Then, it progressed to waving at couches. But suddenly tonight, it clicked, and we pushed back bedtime so he could wave and smile at his proud Daddy. He would wave and I would cheer, and his little face would light up with pride.

He's got it down with his left hand, but he can't figure out what's going on with the right. He will stare at it and turn it and pop his thumb in his mouth and just do it with his left hand. I never want him to figure it out.

Every now and then, he will only wave with his index finger. It makes me want to squeeze his cheeks and tell him how precious he is. He's working that index finger a lot. He points at his thumb, his food, his toys, and he poked Jonathan in the face with it.

Jonathan put his (size 12) shoe on Eli this afternoon. I quickly pulled myself together and demanded that I stop thinking about the day that his little foot will fill that shoe. That those waving hands will be bigger than mine. How is that possible?

How is it possible my sweet nephew is starting kindergarten this year!? Sorry to remind you of it again, Jess, but HOW!? He was just a little baby that made us peel every little bit of skin off of his grapes without saying a word. That was yesterday, I swear! If I'm this emotional over my nephew growing up, I can't imagine what I'll do when Eli starts kindergarten.

The time is slipping from my grasp and I'm already regretting not taking enough pictures, videos, and notes of little moments. I love these little moments. The ones that make me forget about the night before when he woke up and wanted to play for 3 hours during the middle of the night. Or the ones that require me to text Jonathan right away to tell him what just happened.

When Eli finally falls asleep each night, a wave of both accomplishment and deep, pure love take over me. I accomplished another day. An exhausting day. But at the same exact time, I'm overwhelmed with love. And I can't wait to do it the next day.

All of these little milestones are huge moments in our lives. I love looking in Jonathan's eyes and seeing the same exact pride that I'm feeling. Our little boy grows up with every little milestone.

So, in keeping with taking more notes of little moments, my favorite today was practicing "bye bye" while I was supposed to be getting him to sleep. He was staring me straight in the eyes and repeating it. Sometimes with his tongue out. We "talked" for 20 minutes in a dark room with no distractions. He was so serious about it. And I felt so lucky to be in that little moment with him.

I love being his mama.