Best of Jodifur, The Finale
This was posted for Michael's second birthday. I'm actually cheating. It was originally posted with with a video from Rent, but I added in the montage I just did. 2 favorites in one.
Today is Michael's second birthday. 731 days ago Michael did not exist. There are things I wish I had known before Michael was born, things that all the reading and birthing classes don't prepare you for. I had no idea what being a parent was like. I didn't know what it meant to be "a family." I didn't know that someone else being sick, or getting hurt, could break my heart. I didn't know "I love Mommy" would be my favorite sentence to hear.
No one ever told me that one of my favorite people in the world would be less than 3 feet tall. I had no idea that you genuinely like your child. I knew you always loved your child, but that you genuinely liked them, as a person, came as a surprise to me. I had no idea how fast it all disappears. That in an instant they go from squalling infant, to a toddler, to an adult. It is that quick. I had no idea how much my mother loved me, that this is what it feels like to love a child. It is an all consuming love that becomes a part of you like your hair or your eyes. The love becomes who you are.
Nothing prepares you for the sleepless nights, the crying, and the endless worry. Nothing prepares you for the immense love, the laughter, and the way your life changes in an instant. Less than an instant. No matter how much you plan, you just don't know until it happens.
Gone is his babyness. And I miss that. I miss the cuddles, the baby smell, and the big toothless grin. Now, he is all boy. He loves trucks, dinosaurs, and the movie Cars. He loves to run and jump and go to playgrounds. He loves the dog and his Daddy. And he has an opinion on everything, and will share it with you, or anyone who will listen.
Every once in a while I get a glimpse of the boy, of the man he will be. He will be tall like his Daddy. He will be kind (I hope). He will be smart (he already is). And I think he his going to love music and books, at least he does now.
I try to remember that he is only little once. That the whining and refusing to eat will not last forever. That every time he says "come play Mommy" could be the last, and even if I have something else to do I should play with him. In a few years he will not want to play with me. He will be a smelly teenager that wants to play ball and with his computer and will say "yes Mom" in an attempt to dismiss me.
More than anything, I want Michael to be happy. I want him to have love, like the love his father and I have. I want him to be close to his parents, like I am. I want him to have good friends, and a career he likes. And I want him to never doubt how much his father and I love him.
Happy Birthday to my monkey, my Michealest. I can't imagine what my life would be had you not come into it.
This was the very first one of you posts I read. I was hooked. It's "starred" on my google reader list.
Posted by: 11/23/2007 at 11:10 PM
Iom huledet sameach, Michael!
Posted by: 11/28/2007 at 12:18 AM
(I assume this is the comment you didn't understand, since the other one was in English. And the reason you couldn't understand it is, I can be terribly daft. I know you're Jewish and I had just been reading my Israli Blogs and you were next so I simply assumed you'd know what I meant - it means happy birthday, most anti-climatic, I know.)
Posted by: 11/28/2007 at 10:41 AM