Right Before My Eyes

All of a sudden, for some strange reason, my kids are growing up right before my eyes. Maybe they are all going through growth spurts (they have been eating a lot lately!), but they all are changing fast all of a sudden.

Case in point...this past week at school, we were walking to our car and I tried to hold Collins' hand and she kept pulling it away. I don't know if she was embarrassed to hold my hand at school (has never been a problem before) or because she was just bounding with energy and didn't want to be tied down. I hope it was the latter because it sure made me sad in that moment. But for the record, she has held my hand since then. :) Also- her hem lines keep getting shorter and shorter, there have been hints of girl drama at school, and she has asked when she can get her ears pierced. Time please stop! I am not ready!

Thank goodness she still loves to make puppy houses out of Kleenex boxes, always drifts over when I am reading a story to Addie, and pronounces spaghetti "skabetti".

Addie's biggest change lately is a physical one. All of a sudden, she is longer and leaner. Not long ago, her doctor labeled her as "obese" based on her BMI but guessed it could be because she grew outward instead of upward first. I'm pretty sure that is what happened because she has shed that baby weight recently and looks every bit of the four-year-old she will soon be. She also uses big words like "appropriate" now, can sing most country songs on the radio, and is pretty darn good with a kitchen utensil. See? No longer so little!

But...she still puts her shoes on the wrong feet and loves to snuggle and for that I am grateful!

And last but not least, the actual baby. The one who is now longer than the nursing pillow he lays on. The one who understands what the word "no" means, and the one who wiggles out of my arms so he can get down on the floor and play. The baby is disappearing before my eyes!

But for at least a little while longer, he will still have that sweet baby smell, smile that gummy smile, and cling to me with that tiny hand. I will take it as long as I can get it!

It's such an amazing thing to see your kids blossom with new abilities, new thoughts, new feelings, and new looks with each new day. But dang, if it doesn't make you a tiny bit sad at the same time. It all goes by so fast.