You're my sweetheart

I always hear people tell me, "Enjoy these years while you have them, they go by fast" and similar things, about your tiny years.
It happened when you couldn't do a single thing for yourself.
It happened when you started smiling.
It happened when you first rolled over.
It's happened for everything you've done so far.
Now, my happy little monster, you're crawling around, getting close to walking, getting into everything, and you're just so busy being a beautiful beacon of smiling light in a world that can sometimes be a bit of a dismal place.
There are so many things about you that I do appreciate, and I just want to take some time to get it all out in the open before these times are long gone and I'm missing your sweet little face.
I absolutely adore the way that, when I'm in the bathroom, you crawl to the door, push it open and tentatively peek around the door to make sure I'm there. Then, once you verify that I am, indeed, there, you proceed to run your hands up and down the vent on the wall there, by the door, because you like the thrum-thrumming noise it makes.
I smile every time I hear your little hands and knees making their way across the floor, because even though it means my time for doing whatever it is I'm doing at the time has run out, it also means that pretty soon, that bright little smile is going to appear, you're going to pull yourself up on my leg, and stand there waving your little arms around until I pick you up.
Speaking of waving your arms, I love that. I love how you wave your arms when you're happy, when you want to be picked up, and sometimes, in these few weeks before you start to walk, when you take those first few nervous steps, you get so excited that you wave your arms until you fall down.
I think it's adorable (but I try not to laugh) that when I speak sternly to you, when I tell you, "no", that you look at me for a few seconds, and then smile, almost as if you know that by smiling, you can get me to smile.
And it almost works. Every time.
(my heart smiles every single time.)
I love your adventurous spirit. Let me tell you, you sure surprised me the other day when you grabbed the window sill and tried to climb the wall. You are just a fearless little boy.
I love that, no matter how cranky you are, when I put you in the water, you cheer right up, and crawl off into the water as if you don't need me, as if you've now forgotten completely who I am.
My heart just melts every time I come home from work and you reach your little arms out for me.
And I love it when you do it for your daddy too. I love how much you love your Daddy. I love how you know the sound of the door unlocking when daddy comes home, and you crawl towards the door saying, "Da. Da. Da." I love seeing your Daddy pick you up and play with you, and tell you how much he loves you, his little "Wubs".
You are going to grow up to be one smart, fun, sweet little guy.
You are loved more unconditionally than you will ever know, maybe until you become a parent.
It brings tears to my eyes, to think that I've been loved like this my whole life, and never understood it until now, to think how much capacity for love I've been blessed with, to give to you, all for you.
You are my sweetheart boy.

~*I've been trying to do it right~*