As I sit here with abc sleeping in my arms I realize that her legs have gotten so long and are hanging off of me nearly hitting the ground. Her face looks different–she’s losing the baby chub she once had and her features are looking more and more like mine. Her hair is now long enough to be braided in one french braid though they’re in two because she’s still my baby. I smell her. She even smells different–long gone is the scent of mommy’s milk accompanied by baby. Now she smells like whatever her busy body has gotten her into. Time has taken my baby away and replaced her with a toddler.
I remember examining mini the same way when she hit toddlerhood and now I look at what time has done to my first baby. She’s long and lean and has the athletic body of a runner though she only does so for fun right now. The thighs that were once admonished with baby fat have been replaced with muscles. Where she once had a buddah belly has now somehow been turned into a waistline. And her hair. It’s gone. She made a big girl decision that I made when I was 17 and opted to have her hair cut low like mommy’s.
Mini at about 5 months old…
Where has the time gone?Ā Where has the time taken my babies?Ā
I look at them now in search of the tiny humans that my body grew and sustained for years. The only evidence that’s left are the tiger stripes on my belly and the sag in my breasts. But I made these incredible beings. My body produced these little girls that are no longer babies. And I’m in utter shock at their growth.
Time… Time has grown my babies…
It’s the little things that show the growth. I don’t remember when mini’s fingernails changed from the barely present nail beds to those that can fully support the nail polish brush. I know this is small but doing nails used to be something we did to during our mommy-daughter time on Sundays–the only day I didn’t have to work when I was hustling to pay our bills. It was the only time that I had to just focus on this little creation that I had made. And now, now she’s standing tall, strong, and beautiful.
Mini and her cousin when they were 4
Abc will be changing more too. Soon I won’t be able to rock her to sleep or carry her to bed. I don’t know if the time will ever come that she won’t want to be snuggled since mini still hops into my lap as though she’s 20lbs but until then, I’ll enjoy all the snuggles. All the kisses. All the hugs. Soon they’ll be off to college then starting families of their own so I’m going to soak up every last bit of them until that time comes.
Enjoy the time with them…
They grow fast. Enjoy this time with them.
That’s what everyone says when you have a baby. And they’re right. At every milestone we want them to hit the next one faster not enjoying the time they had in the current one. And then it hits us too late that we don’t have babies anymore and we rushed through that phase. The phase of the cuddles, no talking back, unlimited kisses and affection. We rushed through the songs, the bedtime stories and rocking them to sleep. We realize that instead of enjoying these moments and this time, we pushed them to fall asleep faster, hurry up and start walking and talking and running and leaving. And then we realize that we missed the time with them.
Time flies when you’re raising these little people so enjoy them while you can. Enjoy singing them the songs to sleep before they realize you can’t sing. Love nurturing their interest in books before they decide you’re no longer cool enough to read to them. Listen to their coo’s as the learn to speak so they’ll talk to you as their words form. But enjoy them. Enjoy your time with them before you look up and your babies have turned into adults conquering the world.
