Thoughts from the yellow cottage...

As I looked down at the collection of little water shoes gathered in the bathroom here at the yellow cottage, leftovers from all the little feet that have been growing up here over the last 3 years, I was struck by how fleeting this summer is, more than many others to come. Because this summer is the only one when Jack won't be wearing water shoes, the only one when he's not walking. And, for a brief moment, I stepped far outside my usual worry over his developmental milestones, and reveled in the fact that he's not walking yet. This time is so short. He has the rest of his life to walk, to need one size after another of water shoes. But this summer is the only one for him get scratches and slivers on the tops of his feet, not the bottoms, as his little bum sashays along. His crawling, pudgy baby self, so curious and thoughtful and silly, burying his face in the covers, holding his yellow plastic bit in his teeth, going after the stones in the driveway with such gusto, snuggling on our shoulders.... An emerging little person, but not a walker yet. Still a baby, for at least a little while longer.