the times they are a-changin'

I was looking over some of the pictures from last weekend (like this one above where the boys and I were hanging out in the park killing time waiting for Rachel to come home, not very far away from the resident potheads-- it was pretty funny, although I was REALLY hoping Elijah wouldn't ask me what they were doing that 'smelled like Christmas tree') and realizing how true it is that time stops for no man. I'm glad for the time that I got to spend with Elijah the first year he was born when I was "under-employed" (I think that's the new euphemism for draining your savings slowly while you look for very elusive work) and all the memories that I have with him that I would have missed if I was working 50+ hours a week like normal. Like this one...

It's funny now to look back and see how Elijah and Judah are starting to look more alike, and yet the eyes-- Elijah is clearly my child, for better and worse (I'm not sure the lovely and gentle Queen even has a look exactly like this, and Elijah's not quite EIGHT months old in the picture). We would love tossing him in the air and then sticking him in the leaves, because he couldn't crawl around very well just yet... ah, I'm getting nostalgic just thinking about it...

Then he got his first taste of 'siblinghood' when Rachel watched our good friend's son for a few months over the winter....

I do want to note one thing about this photograph-- if you know Elijah well at all, that smile hasn't changed in two years... it still says the same thing, namely "I've been a little rogue, Dad! What might you do now to stop me?" Why would he possibly have that look in this particular photograph? That's right-- because the pacifier in his face isn't HIS? It's Isaac's!! Ah, my son; the things we should have seen coming :)

And there are so many more; these will do for our illustration. I realized today that the LJ is starting to turn a corner. He's reaching the brink where I am not only a father but a limit to measure himself against; a time where dates with daddy will be enjoyed some weeks and rejected on others; and where his mother might be (by his own choice) his go-to parent, a role that was completely reversed the first year of his life. I can remember assuring Rachel that whole first year as she patiently brought him through all his trials and difficulties that someday he would prefer her to me-- but now that the time is upon us it's a bittersweet reality (for me, at least). I think I have to thank God for the wonderful times that I've had with him and know that this season, too, will pass. Plus, it's not like it's all downers and snuffles around here-- heck, Judah and I got in and out of Market Basket in 25 minutes today. Funny how much faster you go when you're not chasing a lightning-quick rogue knight.