‘I won’t always cry, Mummy, when you leave the room, and my supermarket tantrums, will end too soon. I won’t always wake, Daddy, for cuddles through the night and one day you will miss having a chocolate face to wipe. You won’t always wake to find my foot is kicking you out of bed. Or find me sideways on your pillow where you want to lay your head. You won’t always have to carry me, in asleep from the car. Or piggy back me down the road when my little legs can’t walk that far. So cherish every cuddle, remember them all, one day mummy I won’t be this small’
Wow! I am tearing up just writing this. My baby is going to school next year and I didn’t expect it would affect me quite so much. On one hand, I am excited to have a day to myself after 9 years of having children or being at work every day, but on the other hand I am sad she is no longer going to fill my days with happiness and joy. I am not going to take her to the beach, the zoo or the park anymore and will no longer have the excuse to go to all these places at 9.30am on a week day. Life will change.
I got a text from my best friend last week and it started ‘I have a meeting at the Arts Centre today and I’m surrounded by mums (many pregnant) and some dads and toddlers aplenty because the Peppa Pig show is on. I had a nostalgic thought of all those years we hung out with our babies and toddlers…’ Sniff, sniff. My friend had her baby and 10 months later, I had my first baby. Then we went baby for baby for a few years, until she had twins and I didn’t follow with twins!! We had exhausting days together but they were fun. We never finished a conversation and had kids everywhere, but those years have slipped away.
I still have the small child kicking my back in the middle of the night as she has snuggled into our bed and plenty of cuddles, but no longer the supermarket tantrums and chocolate wiping. I know the stages and ages will change and I have found while those days of little children are long, the years and short and this is the perfect reminder if you have little ones, to cherish every minute.
