Leif Turns Three!

This series of photographs was taken in around 12 seconds* on his last day as a Two year old.

Leif has been very excited about his birthday for a month now. The last time it was a full moon, we told him that "on the next full moon, it will be your birthday" and he never forgot it. Nearly every day, he'd tell us that his birthday would be on the next full moon. We'd respond with facts: "Well, that's still 20 days off..." but soon enough, we reached the day before: the last day Leif was Two.

You might wonder why I would be focused on that, and the reason is multifold: One, I'm still trying to recuperate from his birthday (reason #261 why I will never have a giant birthday party for my kids!) and Two, I'm still working on editing the photos and that takes forever and a day. But the most definite reason I am focusing on his last day as a two year old is because he changed on that day.

His speech, which has, obviously, been improving for a long time, suddenly took a terrific new leap. And it might seem that way for anyone else, but as someone who is by his side day in and day out, I can vouch for the change I speak of. ;)

His face and mannerisms changed, too, but perhaps not as much as his speech.

Not only did his vocabulary seem to take a shot of steroids, but the thought and mental capacity behind the words seemed to jump in maturity, too.

I can't really remember any specifics, unfortunately, but I do recall him explaining to me that Daddy was "responding" to me. Not talking to me. Not telling me. Responding to me. It took me by surprise - it was the first time I'd heard such sophisticated speak from his mouth!

So, as it was, we leapt into his being Three with a bit of gusto.

I shall blog more tomorrow on his big day (with pictures, of course), but for now, I'm off to make Pea Soup for my sweetheart while the little one sleeps.

* - This is why I love my camera. My old camera wouldn't have gotten a single one of these shots. Undoubtedly, it would've gotten a blink as he changed poses. Mwah, N80, Mwah!