Never Grow Up, Little Rosalie! January: Week 2 (2/52)

I never understood my dad growing up. He would scoop me into his arms, squeeze me as tight as he could and command me to never grow up. "You're getting too big! Stay little forever, ok?" he would plead. But I would writhe and wiggle until I came loose from his grasp, laughing. "I caaaan't stay little, daddy. You're silly." "Well then, I'll just have to throw you to the foxes, won't I?" More giggling. I wanted to grow up and get big. Grown ups had way more fun and I couldn't understand why my dad would want me to stay little.

Now I understand far more clearly than I ever expected to. Sometimes I grab Rosalie up off the floor, and hold her close, treasuring that particular moment or that face, thankful for her love of oranges and blocks, of crawling and pulling up, of jabbering and playing, but missing her newborn neediness, her bedtime snuggles, her 2 month old shock at rolling over, her excitement when she learned how to sit on her own, her squeals of delight when she began to pull up. I want to stop time and live in every moment for as long as possible, but those moments keep passing by and Rosalie's developing a new skill as soon as she masters an old one. I feel like somehow I'm missing out on her growing up, and I can't do anything about it. So I want to do what I can and write about her antics, photograph her expressions, and play with her, making sure to enjoy every moment as much as I can. So following in the footsteps of a few of my friends, I am going to try to post a picture a week, along with an update on what our Little Bug is up to. Maybe I'll do a better job with the blog than with Rosalie's baby book! I'm not so sure... but we'll see!

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Since the beginning of January, Rosalie has really mastered the art of pulling up. She comes into a room and takes stock of the furniture, making a game plan for standing and cruising. The more opportunities to move, the happier she is. We flew to visit friends and family early this week, and traveling by plane was not a hit for our active little girl. If you can't pull up on a plane, what's there to do? So she wiggled and complained, begging for freedom, and squealing in excitement when we made it to our destination. We're glad to finally have a place for her to move, and so is she! :)

(I missed the first week of January, so this will be 2/52 even though it is just my first post :)).