My daughter Ava turned six this past weekend. After her birth, every other person we met told us to cherish these moments because “Kids grow up far too quickly these days!” I usually chuckled to myself when people said this, wondering how it is that kids are growing up too quickly these days. Did kids grow up more slowly in years gone by?
Yet as I sit here typing this, I have to admit, I do wonder where in the world six years have gone! It seems like only yesterday that I held my gorgeous little girl, wrapped ever so tightly in a receiving blanket, for hours on end as she slept soundly throughout the day only to turn into an inconsolable creature at night.
It really doesn’t seem that long ago that she was first rolling over onto her stomach and before I knew it, she was crawling. I recall her first few words, her first steps, her first tumble, her first visit from the Tooth Fairy. (By the way, did you know that teeth are fetching a cool five bucks these days? When I was a kid, I was happy to get a quarter. It must be inflation.) I remember the first time she used a utensil and boy do I remember potty-training!
And then...BOOM! All of a sudden, it was her first day at pre-school.
My little girl was growing up on me, marked by her entrance into a structured institutionalized setting. Kindergarten flew by in a hazy blur of arts and crafts on our refrigerator door and now she is in grade one learning to read and write on her own. What’s next...High School? Boyfriends? University?
I tell myself to slow down, relax, enjoy these moments. After all, she’s not just my little girl, she is little. There are many firsts yet to come; like the first time she walks to school on her own, the first time she goes to an overnight party, the first time she rides her bike without any supervision. I’ve got plenty of time to enjoy many ‘firsts.’
Just as I come to this quiet, peaceful resolve, someone else comes along to tell me that I need to enjoy these moments because “kids grow up far too quickly these days.” Instead of chuckling to myself, I ponder the incredible wisdom of such words. For I know now, by first-hand experience, kids really do grow up too quickly. We need to enjoy each and every moment, each and every first for they are as precious as silver and gold and with the passage of time they seem to come too few and far between.
