See You Next Year

I put Mason in his highchair today and gave him some toys to play with while I made a sandwich for me and some apples for him. He proceded to fling the toys off the tray and giggle while I ran around picking them up and putting them back on the tray. I think it was then when he realized that the toys don't just disappear when he throws them. They still exist... they just go somewhere else.

For a good ten minutes after that first time, he'd throw his toys down, peep down at them, laugh, and wait for me to pick them up so he could start the process all over again.

It's so amazing, watching him learn.

In sixteen minutes, it will be 2009. This morning, I watched the fireworks in Sydney, Australia as they brought in the new year over there. I teared up, and I wasn't sure why, but I've been in a strange mood all day. Now, when I tell someone he was born on May 25th, 2008, that will be last year. Time's flying, and it's as sad and as scary as it is amazing and exciting. I really do believe that Mason's helping me learn and grow just as much as I'm helping him. He learned that his toys don't disappear when he throws them and I (almost!) learned that change isn't always a bad thing... 2008 isn't just going to disappear. Mason's first seven months will be forever in my memory (and in approximately eighteen hundred pictures).

Happy New Year, Mase. I have no idea what comes next, but I'm ready for anything. You'll be loved just as much in 2009.