Tuesday, May 22, 2012

Feeling sentimental

We have a little evening ritual every single day, Spud and us.

On weekdays (mostly by default)  I am usually the one who would be doing the evening routine with Spud as I am a lot closer to home from my office as compared to Silver Bullet.

Spud usually has ants in her pants and we all know that she cannot keep still! However, in the last few months or so, a different side of her emerged as her tolerance to sit still gets better and her attention span to the TV gets longer. 

Since then, the best part about the evening ritual for me is the fact that she can sit still on my lap for a good half hour as she finishes up her milk while we both watched whatever it was she requested for. (And this could be Happy Feet for the7 th time for 7 straight days for the last one month or so – and to date, we still haven’t quite watch the entire movie because she usually gets bored after 10 minutes and will ask to switch to Gruffalo, Nemo or George The Monkey)

It doesn’t matter though – it still is the best part of the day. It is  the only time when I get to cuddle up with her, babble or sing along with her, shower her with hugs and kisses as she sits quietly on my lap for a little bit before putting her to bed.  Without protest!

I get sentimental these days as I realized that she is also showing stronger sense of independence. While she does tolerate the little cuddles to a certain extent, Spud also much prefer to sit independently as she sips her milk while watching TV.

Sometimes, just me picking her up to put her on my lap will rile her up in a crying protest!

A cliché to be saying this I know – but really,  I am amazed as to how much and how fast Spud is growing up. Very soon, she’ll be resisting all those little cuddles we used to have as our evening rituals. Very soon, she won’t be a bumbling toddler and I won’t have the chance to carry her in my arms anymore. 

She will, very soon, be her own little person…an independent girl with her ways about the world.

It is only a matter of time…

As it is, I could hardly carry her for long these days and I sometimes miss it.  She has gotten so heavy now that I don’t have the strength or energy to be carrying her or I’ll break my hip! 

And with Spud’s recent desire for independence to want to do things on her own, I get even more sentimental as I realize how precious a time it is to be spending as much time as we can with the little baby we have. 

And that I now realized it is okay to be carrying the little child most of the time when she’s still a tiny little baby, because, before you know it, 4 years have passed and there is no turning back! 

Sometimes, when I checked on her before we go to bed, I almost wish that I could pick her up and cuddle up with her in bed her while she is sleeping . (But I also know that that would not be a wise thing to do – so that is unlikely to happen) 

Looking back, I am so glad I got into baby wearing as seriously as I have always done, for, once Spud passes the stage of toddlerhood, we can never go back this way again. 

I guess it is true when “they” keep telling us that kids grow up too fast!

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