Twenty-Five Months

Here it is, the 28th of the month already...

Punky fell asleep early and easily tonight.  I woke her at six this morning so I could get us both ready and out the door by seven.  It was my day to take her to school...more on that later.  It turns out she refused to nap for them today, and was somewhat of a bear.  Tired child equals shitty day for them, easy night for me.

So, I poured a cup of coffee and settled in to write the usual monthly update.  And it suddenly occurred to me that I had no idea what to call it.  Writers' block struck at the title...

When you first bring your precious bundle home from the hospital, her age is defined in days.  Then weeks take over until about the three month point.  Months follow and stick all the way up to a whole twenty-three.  It's an unwritten rule and simply the way it's done.

Suddenly, your child is two.  And a month later?  Well...she's still two.  Sure, we can get away with two-and-a-half a few months from now.  But in this moment, plain old two it is.  Which could make for some boring and repetitive blog post titles.

Then my mind drifted to the content of these monthly updates.  We have surpassed most of the major milestones now.  She walks, she talks, she feeds herself, she stands on her head... I don't foresee earth-shattering changes occurring month to month at this point.

Next I thought about how I would miss these update posts and how nice it is to look back and see where she was a year ago and how far she's come.  And that made me so sad.  

I walked away from the computer for a bit to ponder the issue.  I poured another cup of coffee and stopped in Punky's room to check on my little peanut.  She was all snuggled up with her blankie and sleeping peacefully.  I couldn't help but chuckle as I thought about tonight's bedtime routine, and that landed me right back here at the computer.

As I wrestled flailing arms and legs earlier while trying to put her pajamas on, I was so focused on the task at hand that I almost didn't catch what she said.  It clicked somewhere around P...

"A, B, C, D, E, F, G... H, I, J, K, L, M, N, O, P..."  Punky was singing the alphabet!  She has recognized all the letters for months, and she's heard the song a million times, but she never attempted to say them in order let alone sing them!

"Q, R, S...T, U, V...W, X...Y and Z..."  My heart was in a puddle around my ankles.

She knows the alphabet.  Only twenty-five months old and she knows the alphabet.  Screw two.  She sang the entire freakin' alphabet.  That's a milestone worthy of notation in a monthly update post.  And I'm sure there will be something worthy for months to come.