Teeth!

We hit a milestone this week I thought we might never hit.  Isla’s gone nearly twelve entire months without any teeth, and on Tuesday – six whole days before her first birthday! – she broke the toothless streak!  She got two, both uppers.  I’m not sure if they’re lateral incisors or canines.  Regardless, if she doesn’t get more teeth soon, I think she’s going to look like a little vampire!  They’re not in enough to get a picture yet, but they are in enough to scrape the spoon when she eats, so hopefully soon!

We haven’t had a lot of distinct milestones with her, not like we did with Gabe.  Gabe’s baby book has specific dates when he hit all his little milestones.  With Isla, we haven’t realized they were happening until after they’d been happening for a while.  Like her first word, which was Gabe.  When I finally realized she was saying something, I’d been hearing it for quite a while.  It’s the cutest thing, too.  I love that “Gabe” was her first word!  She also says, “Boom!” when something hits the floor, another thing I didn’t realize until it had been happening until she’d said it so many times I finally figured it out!

The teeth have hit me a little hard.  She’s almost one, she has a few words, she has teeth…soon there will be school and friends and sleepovers and dances, right?  I can only imagine how quickly it will happen.  I know how quickly Gabe is growing up and I know her first year has gone light years faster than his, and I don’t like it.  I’m not ready.

I’d like to be one of those moms who embraces every new stage and loves to watch her children grow and test their wings.  I do like those things, but I love caring for littles.  The littler, the better.  There’s pure magic there.  When I nurse Isla in the middle of the night, rubbing her fuzzy head while the silence whispers around us, I am completely bewitched, and I was with Gabe, too.  I hate knowing I’m one day closer to not doing those things anymore, one day closer to the day they fly.

Now that I’ve written this all down, I feel a little silly.  It’s not like amazing things aren’t still to come.  I know they are, and I know my heart will be overwhelmed with love a million times before my babies are grown and on their own.  I believe the best is yet to come.  I really do!  But the first years – the littlest years – will always hold the most tender place in my heart.

I’m trying to wrap my head around Isla’s first birthday party, so hopefully I’ll be back with more of those plans soon.  I just have to figure out how to party plan while being in denial.  That shouldn’t be a problem, right?