December 31, 2002 - 10:26 p.m.
Zachary is three years old today. For his birthday, he received trucks: a dump truck; a bulldozer; a car carrier. There has been much rumbling around the floor of my mother's living room this afternoon.
It stuns me that he's three already. No longer a toddler stumbling through the basics but an inquisitive preschooler beginning to reason. Last week he pointed to the wooden reindeer in our neighbor's yard and said, "Momma! Impalas!" I had to stop and try to recall what an impala looks like. Then I tried to remember when and where he might have seen one. He continues to amaze me with the amount of information he takes in and can call up days, weeks, or months later. He's a three foot tall sponge.
He went to sleep easily tonight, considering the amount of cake and ice cream he consumed this afternoon. Tomorrow we drive up to spend the day with his Daddy. Only a couple weeks left until the move. Though I don't look forward to the actual packing, moving, and unpacking, I'll be deliriously happy to spend the week in the same residence as my husband again.
Another year - another change of address.
And next year we do it all again.
I lived in the same house until I was 14. When Zachary turns 4 a year from today, he will be averaging one home per year of his life. But that's something to think about next year.
2002 was a year of upheaval for us and for many people we know. There were births and weddings, funerals and divorces, and lots of unemployment. The dust is still settling over most of it. So I am making no resolutions for 2003, not even to take up my ink-and-paper diary again (which has always been my fall back when I can't think of anything else). 2003 is for making a home in a new place and fortifying for whatever may come next.
Happy New Year to you all. May there be a good Spring.
