Sometimes it hits me that while I wasn’t looking, my kids have grown up.
I went to the pool last week to pick them up and noticed a little girl in a swim team suit talking to Maggie. I had no idea who the little girl was, but she sure knew Maggie. It made me realized that Maggie is one of those big kids on swim team that she used to look up to just minutes ago. And at last weekend’s meet, it suddenly hit me that she’s now in the oldest age group. How is that possible?
I also noticed quite unexpectedly that Adam and I are almost eye-to-eye. My scrawny, short little kid somehow isn’t so scrawny and short anymore. He’s turning from an awkward tween to a handsome teenager right before my eyes. I’m afraid if I look away for too long, I won’t recognize him when I turn back. That’s how fast this is happening.
And Lil, my innocent little girl who I never thought would ever stop playing with Barbie’s, Pet Shops and Polly Pockets, went to the mall with a friend the other night and came home with earrings, a necklace and Vera Bradley flip flops. When she showed me her purchases, my heart felt a bit tight in my chest. The little girl is gone. She vanished just like that.
Luckily, I still have Jonah. The other night he climbed onto my lap while we were sitting on the front porch. After a few minutes, he started to feel heavy and my legs were going numb, but I didn’t ask him to move. At 9, it’s rare for him to agree to sit on my lap and it felt good to have him so close. I wondered if I held him tightly enough, maybe he wouldn’t grow up.
Photo above by Billy McGee Photography at Babybluesproductions.
To read more FranklyStein click here
FranklyStein is a blog by Chesapeake Family Magazine editor Betsy Stein who lives in Catonsville with her husband, Chris, and four children, Maggie, 14, Lilly, 13, Adam, 13, and Jonah, 9.
