Birthdays and Accomplishments

As I celebrate turning 29 for the third straight year, and planning Matthew's big birthday bash, I have started thinking about getting older, how time flies, and what we do with that flying time. I can not believe that I have been around for 31 years, I really feel like it should only have been 15- I remember things from 15 years ago so clearly, like they really were just yesterday. I look at Matthew, whom I still picture as that teeny tiny baby, as that little blip on the first ultrasound screen and I see everything that he has accomplished in his short two years on earth. I can not believe he is going to be 2, I can not believe I am 31, and I can not believe everything that has happened in the past two years.

Obviously trying to compare the accomplishments of an adult to the accomplishments of a baby/toddler is apples to oranges- but humor me. I'm not sure, other than giving birth, that I've really accomplished anything major or life changing in the past two years. We bought a house, we've managed to be good parents (after all= he did make it to two!), and I've somehow been able to keep a little piece of "me" while spending most of time and energy looking after and caring for other people. Sure- those are pretty big things, and I am very proud for the things I have done, in the past two years- and in the past 31. (Though I think my parents deserve many kudos for my accomplishments in those earlier years- it is them, after all, who guided me through, and helped me along the way) But lets look for a moment at the myriad of things this little 25lb boy has done:

Learned to eat and drink
learned to hold his head up
learned to roll over
learned to sit up
learned to crawl
learned to stand
learned to walk
learned to talk
and is learning how to use the potty.

WOW! That is a lot of stuff, and that's just the major stuff, he's also learned how to clean up, how to buckle himself in his stroller, how to open the fridge to get his own milk, how to take the top off his sippy cup, how to play gently with dogs and babies, how to share (well sometimes). I mean seriously- how do you even compare to that? And think of what his future holds- reading, writing, skiing :), driving- yikes, dating-double yikes, getting married, having kids of his own...

It is truly amazing what we accomplish in such a short amount of time. And what better time to look back on everything you have done in life than when you are celebrating one more year that you had to do things, and looking forward to the next year full of accomplishments.