milestones: more bitter than sweet

The Boy has yet another tooth and one more that I expect to pop in for a visit within the next week.

This newest development leaves me conflicted.

I'm thrilled to see the changes in him, but I want him to cut that out. It's so exciting to see him change into such a little boy. Watching a full-term baby hit those milestones on time is really neat. You actually get to enjoy it rather than freaking out because everything is happening so late (and because some professionals mistakenly labels your premies as "signifigantly delayed" when they're not). But dh's only exposure to these new milestones is through photographs. He has never really seen these new teeth. It's never dh's fingers The Boy gnaws on. By the time dh gets home, The Boy will probably have a mouth full of teeth. He's getting pretty close to that now. So dh won't get to celebrate the appearance of each new tooth with us. I suspect that for him, it's not a celebration, but rather a sad reminder of everything he's missing.

The Boy said his first word. Dh never heard it. The Boy is learning to do so many new things, but never with his daddy holding his hand. That breaks my heart. I'm loving The Boy at this age. He's so sweet and cuddly. Dh will never know him like this.

On the phone last week, dh asked, "Is he doing anything yet? When I left, he wasn't doing anything." There is so much that the baby's doing now. There are so many little thing I take for granted. They're so mundane for me, I see them every day. They're so foreign to dh because he has never seen them. I know there are many more milestones that we can all share when we're all together, but that doesn't change the fact that there are so many passing dh by.

I just keep whispering to The Boy, "Don't walk. Don't walk. Don't walk." Please let that be one milestone you save until your daddy gets home. Give the poor guy something.