Bye Bye Baby

I took Max to a Gymboree Play and Learn class this morning. We had attended a class a few months back but Max wasn't crawling yet, so he spent most of the time sitting in one spot watching the crawlers do circles around him. But now, Max is a walker, and he's getting his hands into everything. I thought it would be good for him to attend a regular class to play with other kids his age. Most of my friends have children who are two years old and up, and they are all girls. Max needs some boys to play with. He needs to make some friends his own age. And so, we joined Gymboree.

There were balls, lots of balls, for Max to throw and carry around as he walked every square inch of the place. There were tunnels, ramps, building blocks, slides, and logs to push. Max touched everything in sight and climbed on everything he could get his arms and legs around. He squealed at the other kids, chased bubbles, and tried to pull a bow out of a girl's hair. Typical boy, I suppose.

I watched his reaction, more specifically, the range of emotions he displayed across his little face with each new thing he discovered. I saw his face light up when the teacher came around and sang to him. I watched his face scrunch up in confusion as an inner tube was placed in front of him. When he wandered across the room and turned to see I wasn't right behind him, I watched as his eyes widened in a panic until he spotted me. But he was okay and turned to continue what he was doing. I think I even saw a look of embarrassment on his face when he climbed on the back of a lady squatted down only to realize the lady he was grabbing was not his mommy.

Max has become a little person, no longer a baby that clings to me or needs me to hold him. My little boy is growing up. I think I need a tissue.