Big Day Tomorrow!

Tomorrow, little Harrison becomes a man.  He turns one year old.  Clearly, he did not ask my permission to do so, but I suppose a man his age doesn't need his mother's blessing quite as much as he used to.  That's proven every time I tell him not to do something and he gives me a big cheesy smile right before he does it again.  Turns out "NO" is a pretty funny word.  To him, at least. And to the dog.  


Speaking of the puppy, Harrison's first birthday gift has turned out to be a huge pain in the arse, but somehow, we love him.  He's pretty cute when he's not peeing on the floor after giving us 3.2 seconds to get to the back door to let him out, or chewing up Harrison's favorite toys.  He's very specific in his preference.  It has to be a favorite toy, or it just doesn't taste the same.  He also likes useful items, and shoes.  So yeah, he's just like every puppy on the planet.  Oliver has some real selling points, though.  Like the way he just sits there and takes it as Harrison tries his hardest to remove his ears with his bare hands.  Or when Harrison takes his bones right our of his mouth (they both prefer the other's toys).  Oliver just lets him.  That was the hope we had when we got such a young puppy, that he would grow up with baby Harrison and just think this is the way the world works until they both get a little older and grow out of torturing each other.  So far so good.  


Harrison's other birthday present is his party.  The giant, over-the-top party that I swore I would never waste on a one-year-old?  It's happening.  Just sort of took on a life of it's own and I'm not really big on confrontation (especially with a powerful, unseen entity) soooo....here we are.  Thirty-ish guests and a few dozen balloons.  What are ya gonna do? He's my only child, will probably always be, and even though I'm already planning next year's no-one-is-invited family dinner at home with a cartoon movie, it's probably going to somehow end up like this next year too.  So I'm just going to sit back and let it happen and take around 468 pictures and have a great time watching Harrison have a great time.  


Feels a little weird though, celebrating that our little baby boy is growing up.  I guess that's the whole point of having a child - to raise them and help them grow, but I just think the baby stage could last a little bit longer.  But no one asked me, so it is what it is.  He does get cuter every day and keeps surprising us with things he's learning.  It gets better and more fun all the time, so I guess my aging child isn't such a bad thing.  He just better NEED ME until I say it's ok not to.  Don't hold your breath, Harrison.  Mommy's not giving permission for that in this lifetime. 


Happy early birthday, little man.  How old are you turning tomorrow??  Yep.  Genius.