Boy Wonder

Where did my baby-boy go? Raf is three next Saturday. It's so crazy. It's gone so fast and yet I cannot imagine that we had a life before this little guy. What did we do with our time? What did we talk about? What did I do before my heart literally exploded with feeling I never, ever imagined could exist?

Raf seems to have aged very quickly lately. He is more chatty and verbal and so much less of a baby-toddler that he's been until now. He's still so sweet - even with all the 'nos'. He still wants 'kisses on the couch', 'hugs and cuddles'; he still wants you to 'kiss boo boo', yet he's becoming so fiercely independent in many ways. 'No mama, stop' - if I help him in ways that I've always usually done. And also so curious.

His new obsession are elbows (melmows). You see when you bend your arm an elbow is easy to see, but if you straighten your arm it seems to disappear. Raf asks, at least a few times a day, 'wheres my memlow?', or, 'mummy, where your melmow?' I show him and he likes to give my melmow a big kiss. Funny boy.

He likes to sing and dance to a sort of song we part stole and part made up.. it includes the line, 'shake, shake, shake; shake, shake, shake; shake your body'. Raf does a lot of wiggling of his hips and bottom. It's very funny.

Yet he also likes me to wrap him in his baby duck towel and sing 'Raf's a baby duck who goes quack quack quack. Little Rafi Roo, your mummy loves you...'

He likes to look at the 'baby clothes' hanging in his and his brother's shared closet. He likes to play with the baby toys and pat his brother - and kiss him, too. He calls the baby, mostly, 'baby Charlie' (which now has me at least considering that name for real!), and he has a new love for soy ice-cream in a cone.

Every day he wants to go to the train shop, and today, as I drove him around for a much needed nap, he  was saying over and over again, 'train shop, mummy', and the first words to come from his sleepy face as he woke up were, you guessed it, 'train shop, mummy?' It was though time had stopped in that hour of driving and it hadn't registered for him that he'd been away in lala land for some time.

Imagine his delight - and my relief - that we were pulling up outside of a Target (one of many train shops we frequent). He smiled dreamily, said, 'train shop', followed by, 'kiss mummy', and he was the happiest of boys running to check out the trains - all of which we have. He is content, usually, with looking and putting some in the trolley only to give them back at the end.

He was so happy there that he suddenly broke out into the 'shake your body' song with hips wiggling, and all.

It was mostly a Raf and Mummy day today - though we met our lovely friend Amy and her 2 daughters for a beach date this morning - and I have to say that I had such a lovely time with my big boy, who is such good funny, company.