I’ve heard parents talk about how quickly kids grow up. “The time goes by in an instant,” they say, encouraging me to savor every moment.
It’s amazing how you can hear all about a phenomenon… and then suddenly be on the receiving end, living a universal experience first-hand.
It turns out that the kid-growing comment is NOT just about being present and savoring sweet moments as they are happening. The kid-growing comment is LITERAL. Kid growth spurts are weirdly instantaneous.
Check it out: two nights ago I put my nearly 7-week-old son to bed, and the next time he woke up I gazed on his sweet baby face and saw that his face had actually changed!! His little features were a little more defined, and his body was markedly bigger than when I’d put him to sleep:
(OK, that was a dramatic recreation… that’s a photo from 2 weeks and then 5 weeks. But, really, that’s kind of what it’s like from week to week, or even day to day. Really.)
My friend Amanda recently noted the contradictory emotions parents go through: feeling eager for a baby to hold his own head up while simultaneously wistful for those earliest newborn sleep sighs; feeling ready to begin the weaning process while being proud of and nostalgic for rituals of breastfeeding; encouraging kids to explore and fly while wanting to shield and protect them from any possible falls…
Yeah, I get it. It goes by quickly. Like the frog who sees the fly and captures him JUST LIKE THAT, so a kid grows. All I can do is keep my eyes peeled and say, “Leap, little frog! And I will do my best to check out all your deft moves while still pursuing some of my own stuff.”
There’s a lot to balance when you’ve got creative/career passions *and* you don’t want to miss a thing. Lots of food for thought as I go from diaper change to diaper change!
One day when Katie was maybe 4 months old,I can remember feeling her little velvety cheek against mine. It was something I felt everyday, but this one day I really intentionally savored it, closed my eyes for a good long time and said to myself, “memorize this”. And you know what I did! I can still feel that little cheek against mine-that cross between silk and velvet-and even that does not do that soft exquisiteness justice. Actually it doesn't even come close. But I can still feel it. I remember it perfectly. I also knew the moments were fleeting and I also cherished them Shannon. Every moment is like none before and though they'll be so many new moments (there still are for me), memorize what you can.
This is so lovely, Leanne! Thank you for this inspiration. It's crazy to need to be reminded to REMEMBER all of this. But I love and want these prods (from myself and my friends), because I am in the habit of getting consumed with stupid stuff and of sometimes missing the sweet cheeks!