A bittersweet 18 months!

I took Zach to the doctor's today and I was reminded about how quick my little boy is growing up. He got his last round of shots till he's four, and I have a sneaky suspision that the next 2 1/2 years will fly by faster than these last 18 months!

My little man is almost 30 pounds now...I mean seriously that is over fours times what he weighed at birth and he's grown 14 inches in that time period. I think the thing that amazes me most about him is his vigor for everything....no one should get that excited over crinkly paper, and farmhouse murals. Zach was seriously all boy today when he was racing around the room, so much so that the doctor suggested I put him in activity classes. I mean this boy needs to go go go! Trust me he gets that from his father, I am perfectly content to just sleep sleep sleep!

All kidding aside, I am feeling a bit bittersweet on the toddler stage. On the one hand I embrace Zach learning to interact and effect the world around him, whether its through his constant repetition of words, his astonishing dance moves, or his sometimes daring acrobatic skills. On the other hand, as I watch him grow I can't help but miss that baby that would let me snuggle him and rock him for hours. Now I get plenty of snuggles, but they come in 2 minute intervals. With the impending arrival of Matt, I try to remind myself that I will have the opportunity again to carry around my son without my back hurting after 5 minutes, and while I can't wait to go through those baby days with Matt, I have to recognize I will never see them again with Zach. I guess there is always something so bittersweet in the passage of time.

Just today, my neighbor said as his daughters were driving him crazy..."I don't want to wish away my life, but right now I wish I was 55!" Oh how many times do we think that? And yet each of us when we get there will probably wish back the very days that we are wishing away now. Again...a bittersweetness. I guess no matter where we are at on the parenting spectrum, as we watch our children grow, we look to their future, revel in their past, and hope that on any given day they feel we are fully present in their life. (Or maybe that is just our wish, that we remember to be fully present in that moment... because like the last 18 months, each one has gone by way too fast.)