This is the best age!

"This is the best age" is something I have been saying since around the time A turned one. The truth is, I keep thinking that, but everything keeps getting even better.
In all honesty, I was not a big fan of the first year. I find newborns pretty boring, and you are dealing with the lack of sleep and the hormones... the worrying... Around four months, things are a bit better, because the baby smiles and laughs more, but it's still not totally awesome. It's hard to pinpoint when the 'totally awesome' starts, because things get better gradually, but I would say I truly started having a blast around the time A turned one. By that point he was walking well (he started at 9 months), and soon after, he was running after soccer balls, climbing on things and discovering the world! The second year is so full of incredible developments, it's simply amazing!
The best things about the past year:

• A really walking, running, climbing




and playing soccer...


• learning to speak: in a year we went from "wawa" (dog) and "vroum" (car), to three or four clear words strung together
• going on adventures together (zoo, grocery shopping, ice cream shop, anything really)
• having "conversations"
• his understanding of things and amazing memory (like him knowing and telling people that my mom , whom he hasn't seen since early December, knit his sweater!)
• him running around with a dish towel for a cape, pretending to be Batman

• him pretending to be a lion and roaring at everybody and anybody (including the lady at the counter at Panera and the baby next to us at the library)
• him singing in the car, but stopping to say "non, maman, non dance" if I start moving to his song
• him being the loudest at swim lesson, both when he's mad and when he's happy

I know everybody talks about the terrible twos, but when it comes to tantrums, A started throwing himself on the floor and hitting his head in anger at about 9 months, and got over that a while back. I think he actually has fewer tantrums now than he used to, because he's able to communicate better. Of course, he' still a toddler, and is bound to throw a fit here and there, but I want to believe that two is really not going to be as bad as everybody makes it out to be.

 I'm excited for what's to come. The way I see it, the third year is going to be filled with even more adventures and discoveries for all of us to share! Happy second birthday A!