Older
My boys are growing up. Every day they are older than they were yesterday, and they will never be as young as they were the day before.
Last night our oldest fell asleep at about 7:00. He had complained of a headache, so I gave him some medicine & he laid on the couch. Before going to bed, his Daddy got him up & helped him to bed. In the wee hours of the morning, he shuffled into our room still with a headache & now also a sore throat. I got up, and told him I would get him to take something else, and that I would go lay/sit with him in the living room. (I thought that his sinus' may be to blame with the CRAZY TN weather). I went to the kitchen to retrieve the meds, and he went to his room to find "Puppy" & "Polka Dot" (2 special items he's had since he was a baby). A few minuets later, we were settling in on the couch and it hit me. My oldest, was no longer a "baby".
We had the usual & expected milestones- sleeping through the night, the last bottle, the last diaper, getting rid of "oopies" & we met them with excitement. But its the little things after that- the everyday things that you miss...and you realize you missed them when its too late.
Long gone are the days of rocking & him wanting to "hold my ear". He doesn't even "Lay on my Arm" anymore. Those things have now been replaced by me sitting with/beside him, and twirling/rubbing his hair. I don't remember the last time I rocked him, or the last time he "rubbed my ear", but I bet if I would have known it was going to be the last time, I would have held him a little bit longer.
Somewhere over the past year, it became less cool the take a bath with his brothers, and he started taking showers on his own. He gets out & gets ready all by himself- he no longer needs mom to lay out his clothes or help him get dressed.
He's tall enough to see into the kitchen sink without a chair- and he can even reach the faucet. (When in the world did that happen?!)
I remember dressing him at 3 for his very 1st soccer practice, now at 7 he has his own soccer bag, and gets himself ready for practice & games.
Sometimes, when we go out he orders off the "Grown Up" menu. I now know that all too soon, he will stop ordering off the kids menu, and the "Grown Up" menu will be the norm.
"Little People" have been replaced by wresting figures, and "Memory "games have been replaced by video games.
As I sat there, rubbing his hair last night, I looked over at him holding his "Puppy" & "Polka Dot"- his 1st friends, yet the very last tie we have to that time not so far away, yet forever ago. Friends who probably know stuff that no one else ever will & could tell us stuff that would make us cringe. I thought back to when he was a baby & a toddler. Back to when he would hold "Puppy" & smell him for comfort, and I was reminded of all the times both he and "Polka Dot" had been there for him. Friends who have been with my 1st baby through thick & thin & have watched him grow as I have. They have been with him on his 1st trip to the beach, the mountains, and to Disney World. They helped him at the hospital when he welcome 2 new brothers. They saw him through his 1st (and only) major medical procedure. Puppy even escorted him on his 1st week of Preschool Camp and his 1st few weeks of preschool. They are both old, tattered & torn now- dingy, faded, and with several unraveled spots that I have attempted to tie up. Those two are still important to my "Baby" & they will be just as important to me, when he no longer needs them.
I will embrace every day with my boys & who they are becoming. Grateful for every given second we have & memory we make. I will choose to be more present in the moment, and hold on a little longer- because they grow faster than we know or even realize. Every second, our babies are older than before.
Last night our oldest fell asleep at about 7:00. He had complained of a headache, so I gave him some medicine & he laid on the couch. Before going to bed, his Daddy got him up & helped him to bed. In the wee hours of the morning, he shuffled into our room still with a headache & now also a sore throat. I got up, and told him I would get him to take something else, and that I would go lay/sit with him in the living room. (I thought that his sinus' may be to blame with the CRAZY TN weather). I went to the kitchen to retrieve the meds, and he went to his room to find "Puppy" & "Polka Dot" (2 special items he's had since he was a baby). A few minuets later, we were settling in on the couch and it hit me. My oldest, was no longer a "baby".
We had the usual & expected milestones- sleeping through the night, the last bottle, the last diaper, getting rid of "oopies" & we met them with excitement. But its the little things after that- the everyday things that you miss...and you realize you missed them when its too late.
Long gone are the days of rocking & him wanting to "hold my ear". He doesn't even "Lay on my Arm" anymore. Those things have now been replaced by me sitting with/beside him, and twirling/rubbing his hair. I don't remember the last time I rocked him, or the last time he "rubbed my ear", but I bet if I would have known it was going to be the last time, I would have held him a little bit longer.
Somewhere over the past year, it became less cool the take a bath with his brothers, and he started taking showers on his own. He gets out & gets ready all by himself- he no longer needs mom to lay out his clothes or help him get dressed.
He's tall enough to see into the kitchen sink without a chair- and he can even reach the faucet. (When in the world did that happen?!)
I remember dressing him at 3 for his very 1st soccer practice, now at 7 he has his own soccer bag, and gets himself ready for practice & games.
Sometimes, when we go out he orders off the "Grown Up" menu. I now know that all too soon, he will stop ordering off the kids menu, and the "Grown Up" menu will be the norm.
"Little People" have been replaced by wresting figures, and "Memory "games have been replaced by video games.
As I sat there, rubbing his hair last night, I looked over at him holding his "Puppy" & "Polka Dot"- his 1st friends, yet the very last tie we have to that time not so far away, yet forever ago. Friends who probably know stuff that no one else ever will & could tell us stuff that would make us cringe. I thought back to when he was a baby & a toddler. Back to when he would hold "Puppy" & smell him for comfort, and I was reminded of all the times both he and "Polka Dot" had been there for him. Friends who have been with my 1st baby through thick & thin & have watched him grow as I have. They have been with him on his 1st trip to the beach, the mountains, and to Disney World. They helped him at the hospital when he welcome 2 new brothers. They saw him through his 1st (and only) major medical procedure. Puppy even escorted him on his 1st week of Preschool Camp and his 1st few weeks of preschool. They are both old, tattered & torn now- dingy, faded, and with several unraveled spots that I have attempted to tie up. Those two are still important to my "Baby" & they will be just as important to me, when he no longer needs them.
I will embrace every day with my boys & who they are becoming. Grateful for every given second we have & memory we make. I will choose to be more present in the moment, and hold on a little longer- because they grow faster than we know or even realize. Every second, our babies are older than before.
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