Winter was an especially hard time of year for me when both of my daughters were small and still at home. I’d dread the moment my husband closed the front door and left for work because that somehow made it official – I had 10 hours to fill until he returned. Some days we’d just stand there, staring at the door for a few minutes before looking at each other. We couldn’t spend much time outside before the whining and crying started, and there were only so many times a girl could drag her kids out to play areas and coffee shops. Somedays they’d have multiple baths because they were always happy in the water and I could zone out.
During the pit of winter two years ago I read a post by GIBBY about 100 things she already missed about the days when her girls were small. Though I generally loved and related to things Gibby wrote, I didn’t really connect with this post. It was sweet and everything, but she was nostalgic about things I hadn’t experienced yet, or couldn’t wait to pass.
100 stuck with me over the years, though. A nagging little voice in the back of my head pointing out milestones as they passed. Things I didn’t realize were Rites of Passage, and might not have thought to appreciate, had I not been assured how very fleeting they were.
I started writing lists of 100 things I already miss (one for each of my girls). I keep it going on the last page of my planner/journal and every time my girls do something I love, or remind me of something I loved, I write it down. I read them over on hard winter days like today, because I know how quickly they will become yesterday’s.
Instead of sharing those things with you, I wanted to share the original list. Because these fragments of life are more than just a nostalgic look back, they’re a boost to the moms in the thick of it right now. Your little ones WILL grow out of it. They WILL mature. And you WILL miss this. (Maybe you already do.) And, most importantly, your babies will still need you and love you and crave you, even when eating, playing and wiping become independent activities.
One Hundred Things I Already Miss or Will Soon Miss
(non-inclusive and in no particular order)
By Gibby
1. white onesies
2. Johnson’s baby wash
3. contagious baby giggles
4. Baby Einstein DVDs
5. a fresh diaper
6. opening a new fat tube of diaper creme
7. baby spoons
8. board books with chewed edges
9. lift-the-flap books with missing flaps
10. scuffed baby shoes
11. rainbow-colored stacking cups
12. sweet potato-stained cheeks
13. bad baby hair
14. hooded bath towel, with a clean baby in it
15. pudgy fingers pointing at everything
16. chunky kissable baby thighs
17. gummy smiles
18. booger-crusted button noses
19. beloved binkies
20. “I fogot-ED”
21. “go-go” (yellow)
22. “pa” (pink)
23. “momma”
24. “fwend”
25. “girwel” (girl)
26. “skewl” (school)
27. “can I sweep wif you?”
28. footed fluffy PJs
29. Fisher Price Little People, especially Eddie and Freddie
30. Brown Bear, Brown Bear
31. Goodnight, Moon
32. Is Your Mama a Llama?
33. clear plastic shoes mimicking glass slippers
34. Tiny Tot Tumbling
35. forever skipping instead of walking
36. 5-point harnesses
37. Water Babies sunscreen
38. sunhats with chin straps
39. black patent Mary Janes
40. toddler-sized flip flops
41. toddler-sized crocs with Disney jibbetz
42. pastel Easter dresses
43. white tights
44. the Dora the Explorer theme song
45. fat crayons
46. washable markers
47. construction paper hearts, turkeys, wreaths, snowflakes
48. rounded scissors
49. glue sticks
50. Tiny Toes ballet class
51. tap shoes
52. pink softball mitts
53. listening to the girls play Barbies
54. Kitty
55. Doggie
56. Blue (Chuckles’ blankie)
57. blow-up baby pools that hold less water than a bathtub
58. red plastic baby swings
59. useless swim diapers
60. finger-printed baby sunglasses
61. band-aid covered knees
62. training wheels
63. fighting over the cozy coupe
64. lopsided pigtails
65. dress-up clothes consisting mostly of tulle
66. 1st day of preschool
67. Happy Meal toys
68. Barbie toothpaste
69. rainbow goldfish
70. juice boxes with puny straws
71. pink plastic purses filled with strange items of importance
72. gold and silver glitter shoes
73. that loose tooth hanging by a thread
74. frog rain boots and matching frog rain coat
75. bribing toddlers to be quiet with dum dums
76. Laurie Berkner CDs, especially Victor Vito
77. Scholastic book orders
78. that peculiar elementary school odor
79. 1st day of kindergarten
80. reading logs
81. chapter books
82. messy braids
83. crappy jewelry
84. 1st backpack, a character of some sort, of course
85. listening to a 4-year-old singing HSM songs
86. Disney princesses
87. watching a 7-year-old practice her ballet moves
88. Suave detangling spray
89. plastic barrettes
90. clunky pink winter boots
91. funky winter hats
92. awkward plastic sleds
93. the sound of walking in snowpants
94. storytime at the library
95. Kindermusik
96. Gymboree
97. discombobulated Brownie meetings
98. Chuck E. Cheese madness
99. American Girl Place luncheons
100. today
——>click here for original post
Thank you, Gibby, for encouraging me with your words two years ago. I don’t know that I would’ve stopped as many times over the years to take these things in and appreciate them had it not been for your post. Like #20 – knowing that it wasn’t just my daughter who added -ed on the end of every other word made it possible for me to stop trying to teach her to say it “correctly” because I realized that she’d eventually do it on her own. I can’t tell you how sad I was when she started speaking the “right” way.
© 2011 CEK, 2009 LOST IN SUBURBAN BLISS. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
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