My Baby is T-W-O!

To: My Little Cub

Oh lowdy...my son is officially the big t-w-o! I remember your birth like it was yesterday; your slimy little self - so fragile, so new. We've come a long way; you and I, in these two years. You're now 33 inches tall and 35 heavy pounds. You are the tallest, yet youngest in your classroom. A big boy. A tall boy.

You are speaking pretty clearly now and have a pretty vast vocabularly. Last night you asked me for apple juice. Earlier today you said "Thank you, mama." So sweet. We have pretty expansive chats now...and arguments. You are still very determined and strong willed. You refused to let me dress you today. We spent 20 minutes arguing. Finally, I asked you to pick out the shirt you wanted to wear. You chose a football shirt. If only I would have known. I could have saved us 20 minutes.

Running, dancing, throwing balls and playing with cars...some of your favorites. You have a great arm and seem to be ambidextrous. We'll see if that sticks. You love The Wiggles and Sesame Street and say Ernie so adorably...."Uny" in that munckin voice I love so much.

You like to say hello and bye-bye to strangers. This summer a few popular songs stuck to you, Rihanna's "Oh nana", Ne-yo's "Hey!", all taught to you by your Titi "Exis".

You know the difference between "mama's car" and "Titi's car". Pure genius! At two. To get you to our car faster I say "Someone's trying to get into our car! We better stop them." And you run as fast as you can to our car yelling "My car! Mama's car!" My little hero.

Quite the charmer and silly toddler you are. I love you so enormously so. My sunshine and my rock. I look forward to growing "old" together. ;)

Loving you so freakin much it overwhelms me at times...

-Mama Bear

Does a kid NEED a father?

I've pondered this topic for a long time, always going back and forth on the answer. While I think it's wonderful and beneficial for a kid to have their father around; to raise them and teach them how to play ball or advise them on the male perspective of things, I don't think kids NEED a father. A father-like figure, yes. But there are many people who can play that role in a kid's life. In my son's case he has lots of "uncles" and wonderful grandfathers, as well as great uncles and even a great grandfather. He HAS male figures and positive male role models in his life, around him, often.

I usually don't let the fact that my son has 1 parent get me down. Usually. But, sometimes the father thing can get to me. The other day, at the local B&N, my son and I were reading (and playing) with books in the children's section. It was a delightful day. We had just come from enjoying a delish dinner with family and were relishing in the fact that it was early enough to visit a bookstore before bed. We sat in the children's section; browsing, running around. When I suddenly came across a book title that read: Why a Boy Needs a Father. I stopped in my tracks and glared at the book. I immediately felt sad and then...angry. Angry that books with these titles exist. Angry that one day my son might come across this same title when he's at reading age and feel the same sad way that I felt when reading this title. I quickly pushed the book to the back of the pile and moved: The Complete Single Mother to the front of the pile. I smiled to myself, feeling a tad bit better, and went back to chasing my little boy around the many aisles of children's books.