Two (the age. not in the list.)

Brendan, my first (and only) nephew turns two today. That's only 730 days on earth, my friend. And that's not too many. But it is enough to learn how to sit, and stand, and walk, and run. And how to climb up on EVERYTHING and to say a few important words, like MaMa and DaDa and maybe even ThankYouHaveANiceDay.

In year number two, luckily, everything is still pretty awesome. Grass! Bees! Dogs! Firetrucks! Oatmeal! It's all great. Interesting. Worth grabbing and sticking your fingers into (and putting in your mouth). Worth screaming and dancing and shouting about. That kind of joy is hard not to join in on. And even though my sweet nephew is in Alaska, and I am not, I do hear him babbling in the background on my weekly phone calls with his mother (that would be my sister). And when I'm not holding the phone away from my ear to defend against the high-pitched shrieks, I'm smiling along in the joy and exuberance I can hear in his travels across the back yard (or living room).

My sister is busy baking him a little sister, a niece. And that will be exciting too. And in the mean time, he's going to have to grow into this sweater, which knit up a lot bigger than I thought it would. (Gauge? What's gauge?)

Happy Birthday, B. I know that once you're older, getting a sweater for your birthday will be lame. It's probably even lame now. But I have to get in the knitting before I become that crazy old aunt who always sends the itchy sweaters (for the record, this is knit in washable merino wool and is ANYthing but itchy). I hope you can forgive me that some day.

At the very least, you'll have cute photos of you in the sweaters to show your future girl/boyfriends when your mom gets the photo album out at dinner to embarrass you. So that interspersed among the inevitable naked bathtub photos will be some stills of sweater strutting, and you will thank me. Oh yes you will.