I didn't know you could do that!

I like to know what to expect. It's part of my personality—I must research, I must fact-gather, I must deliberate, and I must decide the order of things well in advance. My endless lists and ever-changing time lines are sacred to my mental health (or the demise of it, depending on your viewpoint).

When it comes to Noah, I like to be ultra prepared. In pregnancy, I had all the usual suspects: "What to expect when you're expecting," "Parenting" magazine, etc. Now I subscribe to numerous weekly e-zines that tell me how to keep on track with constructing Noah's schedule, his feeding patterns, etc. Even though I don't take too much of that information overload to heart, I do keep it in the back of my mind...just in case.

But Noah has, since he was just three weeks old, surprised me. I find myself saying over and over again, "I didn't know you could do that!" Guess all the research in the world doesn't prepare yourself for the tricks kids have up their sleeves.

About 12 weeks ago, Noah startled me by increasingly mimicking animal sounds to dozens of farm and wild creatures. What used to be just pointing at the furry beasts in books quickly turned to imitating them, and it was hilarious! A few weeks ago, we finally caught him doing a handful of his animal noises on video. It's a shame this book didn't have a rooster in it; his "cock-a-doodle-do" is a can't-miss.

And speaking of noises, I am floored at the words spilling out of Noah's mouth. Every day, he says at least three new words and, for the most part, it seems like he's retaining them too. It's so cool to have a conversation with my little dude...albeit it a succinct one. He's even stringing together a few sentences now: "I go up"; "More milk, please"; and the one that made me giggle, "I poop."

Last week, we checked off two more milestones. On Friday, he climbed out of his crib for the first time... or fell out of it is more accurate, according to the booming "thud" (and subsequent cries) I heard from the neighboring room when he crashed to the ground. None-the-less, it brings to mind my first thoughts of "big boy bed," and I am utterly not ready to go there.

Then on Sunday, David and I were playing with Noah and reciting our usual "1-2-3-GO!" routine when all of the sudden Noah said "4..." instead of "Go!" David and I looked at each other with an arch in our eyebrows, and David offered, "5?" Noah said, "6..." And this went on until Noah counted to 10. We were floored! Sure, we count to him the time (how many snaps are in his onesie; how many cheerios are on his tray; how many blocks on the floor; etc.), but Noah's never volunteered the information of his own volition.

This kinda stuff just makes me wonder: what else does he know? What else is rattling around in that amazing toddler brain of his?

I realize that to people beyond our tiny family, this news may not be interesting or earth-shattering, but it's so cool to be this little person's parent and see him blooming. Sure, you know these milestones are going to happen eventually, but it doesn't make it any less joyful when those "firsts" transpire. What magic!

P.S. After I posted this, I thought of one more "first" that had me wistful. I went to buy Noah new tennies since his old ones were a wee bit too snug. On a shopping trip to Wal-Mart, we ventured into the baby shoe aisle, which has kicks up to size 6, sometimes 6.5. I tried to squeeze four different pairs of tennies on Noah's chubby, wide feet (just like mommy's) before I gave up and went in search of size 7's. Turns out I had to go to the LITTLE BOY aisle for 7's... as in BIG kids. So sad. I bought the size 7 shoes and sulked all the way home.