M to T

It’s the transition that no one prepares you for and one you don’t even think about until it happens…moving your baby from month sizes to toddler sizes. 

Since we are heading into summer, I have gone through my son’s clothes to see what we need to get to update his summer wardrobe…(For reference, I have a 21 month old) Trying on clothes, we realized that it was time to make the switch over to a size 2T. 

Not a big deal, right? I mean we’ve been upgrading his sizes seemingly every three months since he was born, and this is no different. Wrong. 

So as we went on our weekly trip to Target I found myself in the clothing section to stock up on some shorts and t-shirts, and that’s when it hit me. 

Your local Target may be the same as mine, but there is a large shelving unit that divides the baby clothes from the toddler clothes, and let me tell you...moving to the other side of that shelf hurts. 

My baby is not a baby anymore. He’s walking, talking (more like demanding), playing on his own, eating without assistance, and just growing up. Don’t get me wrong, watching him grow and learn every day is just as exciting for me as it is for him. But it’s all moving too fast. 

Thinking about planning his second birthday has me wondering how we got here so quickly. Wasn’t it just yesterday that I was swaddling him for bedtime and warming up his milk bottles? Yesterday I was rubbing gel on his gums for his first tooth. Yesterday I sat and watched as he crawled across the floor. Now I’m watching him run with my dog in the backyard. 

I’m reminiscing on the good times of him being a baby, but conveniently leaving out the sleepless nights, the spit up, the eating every two hours, the being peed on….so it’s not all bad. But I miss my baby. 

I miss my baby, yet I’m captivated by watching him grow. When he learns a new phrase, I’m obsessed with telling everyone. When he chooses Dada to read his bedtime story over me, I’m reminded how much I love that he can now make his own choices (even when those choices hurt my feelings). 

If you’re still the parent of a baby, don’t take the bad times for granted. Remember that it’s all fleeting and one day you will miss having that time rocking your baby in the middle of the night. One day you’ll heat up your last bottle and miss the days when they couldn’t open the fridge and pull the juice out. 

And parents of toddlers - I know the energy level of these children is slowly making us crazy. But one day, sooner than we think, we will cross the aisle at Target to the kids' section and wish it all back. Every block on the floor, every sippy cup, every sticky handprint on the wall. 

You never know when the last time anything will be with your children. I saw a meme the other day that said “One day you’ll put your child down, and you’ll never pick them up again.” Enjoy the days with your littles. Even the chaotic days will be days that you will look back on and smile about.