My Little Changeling; Be My Baby a Little Longer

My Dear Little Jareth,

     To say "My how you've grown" would be an understatement. It's March and you are 17 months old. How can this be? We just brought you home, terrified and excited with what was to come. But so much has changed since then. Here you are walking and doing your best to talk. Here you are feeding yourself, dancing to music, watching your favorite shows, and experimenting with the potty. Your gummy grin has been replaced with pearly teeth and all those fat rolls are sloughing off. You are 25 lbs of tumbling energy, ready for anything. You are changing everyday.
     How did we get here, little monkey? You are not the same child I met in the hospital. When you first came home I was so worried over breast feeding and now you are sipping through a straw. Nine months ago I was worried you'd never begin to crawl and as I type this you are practically flying across the house throwing a ball. You say da-da, dog, hi, bye, ball, cheese, bed, no, "man," nana (for banana), juice, book, and a few other things. Sometimes you even say "mama," but not often. (I think that since I'm always around, you simply have no need to call my name) Your vocabulary is growing every day.
     So much has changed in our world since you came around and I don't mean since the day you were born. You were a person when we discovered that we were pregnant with you. But for a long time it was just daddy and I, although it's hard to imagine what was meaningful before you arrived. You changed our lives for the better and never think otherwise. We were happy before you, but now couldn't be happy without you. Soon, I will have to tell you the love story that brought you here. And now it seems youve always been here.
     You are going to continue to grow, but please don't grow too fast. This growing up business, I'm finding, is the most bittersweet part of life. You change everyday and it's the most wonderful and astonishing thing. But the bitter part is that I will never get this back. So please keep on changing, show me what you can do. Just don't grow to fast, be my baby a little longer.