The Slowest Fastest Time of Life
You never think when you sign up for the monthly e-mails to chart your baby's growth that they will keep sending them. And then you never get around to un-subscribing, even though you never have time to read them. So imagine when I finally clicked on one today for my youngest child and saw 33 to 34 month old at the top of the page. I thought to myself, this must be wrong, I don't have a 33 to 34 month old. Then I did the math in my head and couldn't believe it. In 3 short months, I will actually have a 3 year old and a 5 1/2 year old.
I can tell you that my two boys keep me busy, and they do. I can tell you that I am so ready for my husband to come home every night, and I am. But I'm not sure I can describe how quickly these months have flown by.
I won't share some sappy poem about how this is the last day your child will be the exact age they are now, but I can tell you that your newborn will be walking before you know it. I won't promise you that the road is easy, but I can say that it's a lot faster looking back.
I can dread the nights coming up that our child will still crawl in bed with us at 3am, but I can also enjoy it while it lasts, because he certainly won't do that when he's a teenager. I can dread the upcoming potty training battle with my stubborn child, or I can simply let him wear pull-ups until he's completely ready, because it's so much easier. I can cram in my work from home or writing while they are napping, and plan the future when I go back to a full-time job, but I want to balance it so that I don't want to miss too many of the hours that I have now.
It's true that we won't get the time back with our kids, but if we're honest, not all of those hours are positive. We snap at our kids humanness, we bristle at their dirty hands and snotty noses, we are frustrated when they can't learn to share a simple toy. Rather than feel guilt over those times that we too fail at our jobs, let's use those moments as reminders that, even as parents, we can be human, just as our children are. We can apologize, and hug, and let them know that we love them just as much and maybe sometimes we deserve a time out for breaking the rules too...
if only they would let us take our time out in peace!
I can tell you that my two boys keep me busy, and they do. I can tell you that I am so ready for my husband to come home every night, and I am. But I'm not sure I can describe how quickly these months have flown by.
I won't share some sappy poem about how this is the last day your child will be the exact age they are now, but I can tell you that your newborn will be walking before you know it. I won't promise you that the road is easy, but I can say that it's a lot faster looking back.
I can dread the nights coming up that our child will still crawl in bed with us at 3am, but I can also enjoy it while it lasts, because he certainly won't do that when he's a teenager. I can dread the upcoming potty training battle with my stubborn child, or I can simply let him wear pull-ups until he's completely ready, because it's so much easier. I can cram in my work from home or writing while they are napping, and plan the future when I go back to a full-time job, but I want to balance it so that I don't want to miss too many of the hours that I have now.
It's true that we won't get the time back with our kids, but if we're honest, not all of those hours are positive. We snap at our kids humanness, we bristle at their dirty hands and snotty noses, we are frustrated when they can't learn to share a simple toy. Rather than feel guilt over those times that we too fail at our jobs, let's use those moments as reminders that, even as parents, we can be human, just as our children are. We can apologize, and hug, and let them know that we love them just as much and maybe sometimes we deserve a time out for breaking the rules too...
if only they would let us take our time out in peace!
Comments