Goodbye childhood, hello teen years. How did we get here so soon?
It seems like just yesterday my oldest was smiling up at me in his Elmo birthday shirt on his second birthday. Now he is turning 13 and growing facial hair. How did we get here so quickly?
My curly headed little one is now almost as tall as me, and his voice sounds more like his dad’s than the sweet little voice I had come to know. He has grown and matured so quickly these last few years, and his interests in pretend play and fart sounds have changed into a love of music, passion for learning guitar, and checking out murder mystery shows with his momma. It’s so bittersweet to be looking into the teen years and saying farewell to his childhood and yet, I am in this weird in-between stage of parenting, the one where you have one child learning their ABCs and another hitting puberty and growing facial hair.
With four kids, we are a household of many stages right now. I am trying my best to cherish these moments as they come because they seem so fleeting.
When I was a kid, I remember thinking that life went by so slowly. I thought it would be an eternity before I was grown. Now, in what now seems like a blink of an eye, I am now 35 and watching in amazement as my kids hit milestones, find interests, build relationships, and grow in their faith. They are all such amazing kids and so vastly different from one another. We currently have a 13-year-old, who has grown over three inches in the last three months and whose voice has changed a few octaves as well. We have an 11-year-old who is getting the attitude of a 16-year-old; she loves dance and is counting down until she will be a teenager. We have an eight-year-old who loves to play but wants to also be cool like his older brother so he will talk your ear off about Minecraft or dinosaurs. And we have our almost six-year-old learning her letters and sounds, and spinning circles around the others for fun. To say we have a mix of it all would be an understatement, but I relish these days. I want to take a video in my mind and replay it when things are hard.
These are the times you want to remain in. These are the days I try to remind myself to slow down and enjoy because these are the days the kids will look back on and tell their kids about. Sometimes it’s hard to step back and take in the everyday moments that will soon just be a memory. I am finding myself trying to be more mindful of these times lately. I guess with the kids getting older you realize how fast time is flying by. I want them to make amazing memories to look back on.
These are the years I want to keep forever.
