I’m not a deep or publicly emotional person. I’m just an “Accidental Mommy” and have always kept that kind of stuff to myself because “emotions are for girly-girls”. It’s not that I don’t have deep emotion, I just generally save it for when my husband most needs some good nagging.
Well, keep your panty hose on, because it’s gonna get a little bit mushy.
(by the way, this is another of those late night posts, and WHAT DID MY DOG EAT? He is killing me.)
My daughter will be 8 months old on July 27th. It is seriously hard to believe the time has gone by so quickly. Every day something about her amazes me. I mean, I made her! (well, Ed was there too I guess…) She has recently started crawling. It started out as the funniest “slither-crawl” with her actually covering some ground but not being able to move her arms and legs together so she would end up on her belly between every move. We encouraged her so much for the few weeks she did that. In hindsight, why did we do that? Now she is at full blown, “I’m getting up and leaving this room and you have to chase me and keep me out of trouble” stage.
On one hand, I do miss those completely dependent on my amusement abilities age where she just looked into my eyes and coo’d (or screamed….yeah, she mostly screamed) but now I do like that she will entertain herself for a bit longer (especially when she finds the vacuum cord…oops) and I simply adore watching her explore.
Mostly her explorations have involved crawling away from me to check out dangerous rooms, touch electrical sockets or get at another toy but yesterday she started doing something new. She started crawling towards me when I was sitting on the floor, putting her hands and my legs and then my arms and trying to stand up. It was like slow motion as she did this and it was so sweet. Of all the things in the room she could have used to try and stand up with, she deliberately chose me. And as she slowly tested each grip and her footing with each step while trying to stand, she just melted my heart. It was like she knew that what she was attempting required Mommy. She needed my support and I swear she hugged me when she finally made it all the way to standing. She’s done it quite a few times since and it still has reduced me to a pile of mushy goo each time.
I don’t remember these kinds of experiences with my son. Maybe it was because I worked full time, maybe it was because time just erases these wonderful memories or maybe I just didn’t pay attention because I was younger and was still planning on having more kids. Not that I didn’t enjoy and appreciate him, but that sentiment took a back seat to survival and now knowing she is #2 of 2, maybe I savor it more. I don’t know why, and I’m a little saddened by it, but a lot of what I have experienced with Abby feels like the first time.
Well that is about the extent of my “deep thoughts” for now. It’s now 4 am and I really should get some sleep.
Abby still wakes me up to eat once each night and what could take about 10 minutes turns into an hour because the internet never sleeps.
This might be a mental disorder.
Choosing blogging over sleep.
Oh well, I like nuts.
About Kim
Cindi,
Thanks for reminiscing with me, I imagine being a grandma brings back memories of your own kids too!
Deb,
You’ve got the middle of the night bug too, eh? It’s so amazing how one day they look one way and the next they look at grown up!
Heather,
You don’t appreciate the days when they just lay there and coo at you until they start squirming and fighting to be put down and run all over the place!
Renee,
They change so fast, don’t they? It feels like yesterday we were dealing with colic and now she is crawling already. She will be 1 in November! I can’t believe how fast it goes!
Nicole,
Abby is not dating until she’s 40….Ed is going to go buy a shotgun! hah
Pam,
I can hear her now saying “mo-om, you are embarrassing me, stop trying to hang out with me and my friends.” hehe
Alyson,
Thank you!
You are so right about the heart of a mama, one minute you are so excited over the next stage and then the next moment you reminisce about the younger ones!
What a great post!! I rememer the best advice I ever got was from a girlfriend with an older child who told me to make sure to really be in the moment as much as I could because the time goes by soooo fast. I have to say, I think that is soooo true!! I can’t believe she is almost 6 and will be in first grade!! And other good advice I got was – little people, little problems, bigger people and bigger problems!! But of course, while you are going thru it, you can’t imagine anything more frustrating than a toddler who doesn’t want to be in her stroller in the mall!
You captured this moment in time in a perfect way! I felt like I was sitting in the room watching it happen! I felt the same way with each of my children.
Hi Kim
I agree, late night posts bring out all our emotions. It doesn’t matter how old your kids are, the memories of them seem to come out stronger at night. You’ll be surprised at how many memories are like instant camera moments and happened like just yesterday. You might want to read my “Summer Solstice” post here. Thanks for commenting on my Musings blog.