My baby is growing up
We all have those weeks where we tend to notice more changes in our bubba’s, especially when they are very small and begin to hit their developmental milestones, such as rolling over. At that time we are willing for them to learn, wanting them to develop early and just simply cannot wait for that first word. It’s like we just cannot wait for the next step.
This week has not only been a milestone for Jake but mostly for me, for I have just come to realise that my baby is no longer my baby; he is growing up! I looked at him today, at his long naked body, at the definition in his face and the new characteristics he’s developed in recent weeks and could see he is now an actual little person! For months I have been teaching him to speak better, trying to get his colours right (without everything apparently being green!) and desperately making sure he is a polite little lad with his please and thank you’s. Everything seems to now be clicking into place and even though this makes me extremely proud it also made me realise that the other parents are right, they do grow up so quickly and we don’t even notice!
The Next Stage
This week Jake agreed to take the side off his cot. Last time I did this he went running to Daddy to tell him that Mummy had broken his bed and that Daddy needed to fix it! I’m not even sure why I felt the need to push this part previously? Maybe because other Mum’s were telling me they had done it and I felt I needed to follow suit? Perhaps we all feel that certain developments are a competition? I went along with Jake’s decision because he needed to be ready for the change and he clearly wasn’t quite there before. This week something really has changed in his mindset. He was so excited about his ‘new big boy bed’ that he almost burst whilst dragging his auntie up the stairs to look at it! He’s even been pretty good with not getting up, so far we’ve only had a few occasions of a toddler appearing in the living room- that frightened the life out of me last night coz I’m just not used to spying a tiny child out of the corner of my eye!
The other areas he has developed recently are getting his colours right, stringing more sentences together and learning words to songs… even to his favourite Newton Faulkner tune! (that’s my boy) Do you know that he even asked me if I was happy the other day? I had to ask him again because I was so taken aback that my 2 year old could comprehend the idea of asking Mummy if she was happy. He asked again, to which I replied ‘yes hun, I am happy, are you?’ He replied with ‘yes!’ Oh, my heart melted.
Development
I can now have an actual conversation with him – yes, a lot of the time it’s about Dinotrux or Mr Tumble, but it doesn’t matter because it’s him expressing himself (plus you learn to nod and say yes when the repeating becomes way too much to handle!) He now uses his please and thank you’s so easily that I rarely have to prompt him. He knows how to work the tablet, how to load a DVD, how to turn on the dishwasher and absolutely loves to help with every job going – well we all know that one won’t last! He has even mastered his thumbs up on both hands at the same time- a very important development that one.
As I sat here tonight watching him sit on the living room floor with a sieve, wooden spoon and banana (all of which he had snuck out of the kitchen without Daddy noticing) and as he mixed it up, asking me if I could get him the sugar please (he was making banana bread btw), I looked at him in amazement, in awe, with pride but also with nostalgia, for my baby is now a young boy and growing up fast. Even though the baby part was hard, was tiring and challenging at times I still can’t quite believe that 2 1/2 years have already passed us by.
Hold That Baby A Little Longer
You may be sitting there now with your baby and encouraging them to roll, to stand, to talk or use a potty. You may be wishing the time away so you can get a good night’s sleep again (wish all you want coz it ain’t gonna happen!) You may be looking at people with toddlers having fun in a playground and look down at your sleeping baby and think I can’t wait for that time. Well, stop, you can wait, you have so much time of them being big, enjoy them being tiny and cute and innocent and cuddly. Enjoy the naps, rock them a little longer, hold them close and just let time slow down.
Time to get out the pictures and tissues… sob. Stop growing up my baby boy.
PS No! I am still not broody
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