Seth and I were with a friend of mine recently, and she commented to me how she can see a difference in him. That he’s not a little boy anymore…and that I should hold on tight to him…..his youth…while I can. Before you know it, he won’t be quite as huggy and agreeable to being with mommy.
Seth is 9. And, this discussion brought me back to what another friend said years ago…that you blink your eyes…and they’re grown!
I didn’t totally buy into it at the time…but now I get it!
Where does time go?
It does seem a bit like a blip when I think back to his babyhood and toddler days.
A new later mom friend of mine has a three month old, and she is immensely grateful to have him in her life and is enjoying him. We met for lunch at the diner recently, and she brought him with her. It was like a trip down memory lane for me. She kept him in the stroller parked tightly next to our table. And, when he got hungry and craved mommy time, she cradled and soothed and fed him, clasping his tiny body in her loving arms. Women passersby stopped to ogle and proclaim how cute he was. One woman said “she’d like one!” She looked like an aspiring grandma or older empty-nester. Flashback to when Seth was a baby, and I’d bring him to the very same diner, and place him in his car seat on the table. It was at this diner that he once had a meltdown in the doorway. Feels like a lifetime ago.
Childhood is so fleeting.
We want to do a good job and spend time with our kids and cultivate a close relationship. I feel like I do that with Seth. And, I try to respect his desire to do his own thing, which I see more ‘n more of of late. He’s totally into his MAC and Nintendo DS. He’s high tech all the way and heavy on the equipment…though we refuse at this point to get him an iPad.
I love it when we commute into the city, and he grabs for my hand walking through Penn Station or crossing the street or navigating through a crowd. He wants to know I’m there, yet he’s breaking away. I feel it, and while normal, it takes a bit of an adjustment.
He’s becoming more ‘n more his own person.
And, while he’ll always be my buddy (I hope)…he won’t always be my little guy. Though my husband says, I will always think of him that way. He’s probably right.
Robin Gorman Newman is the founder of Motherhood Later…Than Sooner, a blog and community for women who become mothers after age 35. While not being exclusive, Motherhood Later is truly tailored to fit the needs, concerns and stories of a certain demographic of mothers going through similar experiences with their pregnancies, careers and family lives.
