Yesterday

I don't think I've written here since my role changed at work (to something I wanted to do, that I think I'm naturally good at, and that was needed on the team). Since the change I've been busy with meetings and planning and process (and a trip to California for all three), and I can honestly say I've been having a great time. I just haven't made much time for blogging, as evidenced by the "Yesterday vs. 2008" Blog item in Things that's 6 days overdue. (I'm trialing Things on a friend's recommendation and rather liking it so far; it's handy that I can keep track of my Areas of Responsibility and all the items that fit in each area. I made Blog one of the areas so I could remember things I wanted to write about.)

I think it's especially important that I continue to blog about kid milestones as I get busier at work—without shortchanging the kid, of course. If I have to choose between spending time with the Beaner and blogging about him, I hope I know to choose Beaner time. (If that happens, I'll probably end up saving memories on little scraps of paper and blogging in bullet points, as I did on my trip to Korea back in 2003.) Looking over my parenthood archives with Al and the Beaner before my trip and watching all the videos I'd posted over the past 3 years or so brought home how easy it is to forget how things used to be. I barely recognized the kid in the train video, though I understand him better now than I did then. Perhaps there's some kind of 20/20 hindhearing when you've been a witness to the evolution of your child's speech?

When I later went to dig up (and then back up, when I realized that they weren't backed up) the videos I took in 2006 and 2007, I found even more moments that I only vaguely remembered. There were a few that I instantly recognized, even if I didn't remember recording them, and seeing those moments made me want to capture and chronicle more. So that's my long-winded way of saying that time is speeding up and I don't want to miss anything and THANK GOD FOR THE BLOG. (Even Al said THANK GOD FOR THE BLOG when we were reviewing the archives, and he's always been a somewhat reluctant supporter of my blogging habit.)

That brings us back to the "Yesterday vs. 2008" Things item, which has to do with the Beaner's recognition of the turning of the year. I know that they start Circle Time in his classroom each day by having one kid stand up and tell what day, month, date, year, and season it is, but I don't think he was really *aware* of the year until recently. He used to refer to the past as "yesterday" in virtually every situation; for example, "Yesterday Grandma and Grandpa gave me a book for my birthday," when his birthday was a month ago. Yesterday was good for two days ago, last week, last month, six months ago, last year.

Now, suddenly, his favorite way of referring to the past is, "that was in 2008!" His first real nanny, Hannah, came to visit us last week after the Inauguration (which, now that I think of it, is probably what prompted all the nostalgic video watching), and we reminded the Beaner that Hannah was his nanny when he was little and has been his friend ever since. "You mean she was my nanny in 2008?" he asked. "No, Aura and Shawna were your nannies in 2008," I told him. This is apparently a puzzler for him; just as nothing existed before yesterday for a long while, he's now unsure of what came before 2008.

Speaking of remembering, do you remember the 21st night of September?*

*Link goes to a friends & family only page on Flickr.

Posted by Lori in parenthood and work at 10:38 PM on January 30, 2009