separated by two years

watching cole as he grows, i often find myself suddenly surprised at just how big he's getting. i think it's simply that seeing someone every day (and for so much of it!) you become used to them as they are this particular minute, and larger changes tend to sneak up on you. kind of like that poor frog in the pot of boiling water!

sometimes he just suddenly seems to be heavier one day than he was the day before (even if my poor noodle arms have grown some muscle over the years!).  often it's when i see his head clearing rather than bonking troublesome corners, or when i see a small, dimpled hand stretch up to grab something that was once safe and out-of-reach. he seems to just be an actual small child, rather than a large baby, all of a sudden sometimes in ways that he wasn't a day before. it can be an expression or an exclamation, a movement he's mastered or a skill he's tackling.  it can come out of the blue, in the realization that i'm deluding myself thinking that favourite shirt still fits, or conversely discovering that last summer's way-too-big shorts are perfect and might not make it until september.

other times i look at him and still see so perfectly how he was as a baby. we were playing in the morning light the other day and i took this photo of him.  at the time it gave me a sense of deja vu and it made me think of this other photo from way back when when cole was not even a month old.