Open Letter To My Son, on The Eve of Our First Mother`s Day

Psst...hey. Captain Chaos. You`re tired. I can see it in your eyes, in your flushed cheeks, in your frustration at the little things.   I know you don`t realize it, but at some point you have to give it up. And that point is now. So let`s put away the toys and the blanket, let`s stop crawling and pulling up, standing and falling. Let`s stop terrorizing the dogs and eating stuff off the carpet when mommy`s not looking. Let`s stop exploring, rolling, squealing, wheeling, ranting, charming, messing, hiding, finding, toppling, breaking, laughing, crying, snacking, napping and waking to do it all over again. Let`s pack in the car rides and the shoulder rides and the stroller rides and the walker rides. We can do all those things plus more tomorrow.

We`ll have a nice warm bath, and you can play with your toys while you cover mommy in bathwater. You can howl in protest when I take you out of the tub. Then we`ll wrestle you into a clean, dry diaper and a clean, dry sleeper. Have a nice nip off the bottle in a dark, quiet room. Then I`ll rock you to sleep and whisper to you. Tell you how great you`re doing. How much I love you. Tell you that you don`t have to grow up too fast - even though I can already see that you are...

When you are asleep, I`ll put you down in your crib and rush back upstairs to finish clearing the wake of destruction you`ve left in your path. Then, a snack, and I`m right behind you on our way to dreamland, and in the morning, we`ll wake up and do it all over again. Tomorrow, though, will be a little special for me. It`s Mother`s Day - the day that I get to celebrate being YOUR mother.