He's TWO today!

Happy Birthday, Harrison!

I just can't believe he's two already.  Where does the time go?  Wasn't it just yesterday that he came down the hallway in the arms of a woman we'd just met, who gently handed him to me and made me a mother?  Wasn't it just last week that he was six months old and demanding to be held at all times?  Wasn't it just a month ago that he was eight months old and taking his first halting steps across the floor, his smile so big and delighted that we couldn't help but cheer?

But it's true, he is two.  He is two and talking up a storm, making jokes, playing soccer and basketball around the living room, brushing his own teeth, saying please, thank you, and excuse me when appropriate, and asking for favorites at mealtimes.  He is two and loves to help cook, loves to dust the furniture, and asks for a napkin when he spills his milk on the floor.  He is two and every day he makes me proud to be his Mom.

Even last night, when we went through a certain rite of passage for parenthood:

We had corn for dinner, a favorite of Harry's.  He eats corn in a very specific manner; as studied and practiced as a speed eating champion he picks up one kernel at a time and places it in his mouth, which he has shaped into an 'o'.  Then he swings his hand out to the side a bit as he chews and swallows the kernel in his mouth, before swooping his hand down to the plate of corn in search of his next victim kernel.  It is funny to watch, and we usually crack up at his methodical technique.  So last night he's eating his corn, we're having fun watching him, and suddenly Brendan notices that Harrison's finger is near his left nostril.  Pointing at it, in fact.  And Harry says "Uh oh!  Popcorn booger."  And we start to laugh because we think, in  our naivete, that Harrison, our two year old, is much too smart to have stuck a kernel of corn up his nose.  Hah.  Sometimes we are idiots.

What ensued next can only be described as carefully controlled panic, as we tried to figure out what one should do when one's toddler has purposely placed a foreign object in his nose.  We got a flashlight to verify the situation.  Yup, yellow kernel wedged in very small nostril.  Tweezers were found.  They were unable to grip the slippery, rounded edge of the yellow kernel.  A discussion about the pros and cons of calling a doctor once again reduced us to panicked giggles, because no one ever wants to call the doctor and admit that their child has done something so...normal.  In  a stroke of desperation we stuck him in the shower, and doused his face with water.  I thought that perhaps the water would lubricate the kernel and make it come out.  No deal.  When we were drying him off Harrison shivered and in a stroke of pure genius: sneezed!  Out flew the yellow kernel!  Cheering was heard throughout the house, and we had a long conversation about why one should not place things up one's nose.

That's my kid.  I'm so proud!