A little sad about my kids getting older

[wildmonkeys]

I have been feeling a bit sad about how big my kids are getting lately. Anyone else? I really love having little kids and though I know I will enjoy bigger kids I just feel like the time is slipping through my fingers.

My older son just turned six and I actually thought "Oh God, we are 1/3 of the way to him leaving our house" :( He can read. He has a loose tooth. He prefers showers. He is too big for me to carry. He can tie his own shoes. I could just go on and on :blah

My younger son is 2.5 and lately when we are having our after lunch book/cuddle/nap and I watch him drift into his babyish nap all I can think is how soon he won't nap. Not because I am sad about losing my quiet time while he is asleep, but just as another milestone passing.

Anybody else?

BJ
Barney & Ben

[Itlbokay]

Yes!

Mine are 8 and 11! It's the 11 yr old that makes me a little weepy right now. He's almost as tall as me (I'm pretty short, 5'1") he wears almost the same size shoes as me, and clothes...I fit into his shirts! Sometimes, I see little glimpses of the teenager (teenager!) he will be in a few years, and boy is it bittersweet.

I'm sure you are going to get a lot of responses to this!

:heartbeat

[oceanbaby]

This has been really hard for me lately. I think it's because ds2 is 18 months, and I know that the end of his babyhood is right around the corner. We are 98% sure he is our last baby, so I am pretty weepy about this right now. I was just telling my mom today that I don't know what I will do when I don't have a babe on my hip.

We just made the decision to homeschool ds1 this year, and it has made me so happy to know that I won't miss a minute more than necessary of his last fleeting moments of being a "young" child. (This wasn't the reason we chose to homeschool, but it's a bonus.) This morning we played an elaborate pretend game about the Polar Express, being a baby turtle, and flying beds, and all I could think of was how insanely cute he was, and how in just a few years this part will all be gone. Right now he goes around saying "we live in outer space" because we've been talking about how we live on Earth, and Earth is a planet in space. But it's pretty funny to hear him tell the cashier that we live in outer space. :lol And ds2 does this really dreamy thing of laying his head on my shoulder when I carry him, and just nuzzling his face into my neck. It just makes me weak with love. And soon it will just all be a memory.

Okay, I'm going to stop writing now cuz I'm getting teary.

[newmommy]

Count me in. One night, after DS was sleep I was sitting alone on the couch just thinking. For some reason a picture arose in my mind of him at the Age of 21.

I burst into tears! :crying

[aussiemum]

My kids are 5 & 7 now, & I guess I can't really say that I am sad to see them grow up. I dont mean that in a negative way, it's just that I get so much joy out of seeing them accomplish new things each year. They never cease to amaze me! :love

However, it's gives me pause that I am 35, & I'm not sure if I'm finished having babies yet..... :yikes: This sort of thinking does make me feel nostalgic & somewhat sad. I would love to go through another pregnancy & childbirth, & I miss having a young baby to hold & nurture..... Just not sure that I'm serious enough to try & convince dh to go for a third child.....

[Attila the Honey]

My dd is only 2 but YES!

I feel like a dreamed of having a baby for so many years and, what? It's over already? What happened?!? Where did the baby go??

We are cosleeping and sometimes at night I think about how someday she will be not just in her own bed but in her OWN HOUSE and I won't have her little feet grinding into my back anymore and, believe it or not, it makes me cry.

[Alkenny]

My older two are 10 and almost 13, so I know what you're talking about. It shocks me that my DD is almost in HS, because I WAS JUST THERE! :lol

When I get that panicky heartbroken feeling, I focus on the good things that have come with their ages now. They can talk (and debate), they're intelligent, and it's cool to see how they're making choices reflecting my influence on them (and sometimes cool that they go the opposite way, as they have minds that can think these things through FOR THEMSELVES!)

Parenting doesn't stop when they leave babyhood, childhood, or become adults. It's ever changing and just part of the journey. :love

[mama_b]

I am going to be SO bad about this as my dd gets older. I cried when she turned 7mo because she was more than halfway to a year. :bag: I will probably bawl on her 1st bday. (not in front of her, of course :))

[Itlbokay]

My older two are 10 and almost 13, so I know what you're talking about. It shocks me that my DD is almost in HS, because I WAS JUST THERE! :lol

When I get that panicky heartbroken feeling, I focus on the good things that have come with their ages now. They can talk (and debate), they're intelligent, and it's cool to see how they're making choices reflecting my influence on them (and sometimes cool that they go the opposite way, as they have minds that can think these things through FOR THEMSELVES!)

Parenting doesn't stop when they leave babyhood, childhood, or become adults. It's ever changing and just part of the journey. :love


How nicely put :throb

[MamaBug]

I too have been very sad lately, my oldest will be 8 in June and the "baby" will be 6 in May. I really feel it the most with the almost 8 year old, as he is really coming in to his own. He is getting to gangly to fit in my arms just right anymore and it makes me so sad. It is fun to see the ppl they will become but so sad to lose the baby time

[USAmma]

I am too, in some ways. But I'm also glad that I am getting more sleep these days, able to find pockets of time for myself, and my body's not hurting from all the physical demands of pregnancy/babyhood.

My 5yo got up this morning, dressed herself, and made her own breakfast! But she still very much needs her mommy. :)

[charmander]

Oh my gosh, yes!! I've been having those same exact feelings!!

DS is 7 and in many ways, very mature for his age. I can't really cuddle or kiss him like I used to when he was a baby, and I miss that. I mourn for his babyhood, even at the same time I am enjoying the little person he has become.

My DD is 27 months. She is still breastfeeding and I dread the day when this stops, because then I'm going to really feel like her babyhood is gone.....so sad, because I'm not having any more kids.

[Attila the Honey]

I am going to be SO bad about this as my dd gets older. I cried when she turned 7mo because she was more than halfway to a year. :bag: I will probably bawl on her 1st bday. (not in front of her, of course :))

I was an absolute wreck on dd's 1st birthday. I sobbed all day long, but then it was out of my system and the 2nd birthday was actually a fun and happy day.

[j924]

My oldest dd will turn nine next month and as I laid and listened to her practice guitar last night I was so overcome with emotion. I can't beleive her childhood is almost half over. I looked at her and her beautiful face looked more like a young lady than a child. Thank goodness she still likes to cuddle and hold my hand in public. I think when she gives those up, i may go over the edge.

[Alana]

Ive just come to the conclusion that mothering is bittersweet. Sometimes I wish certain moments would freeze in time forever..it all just goes by SO fast. My youngest right now is nearly 2. We have 3 dc...and usually we have a newborn when the youngest is 21 mo....and we arent even pregnant, and are taking a 3 yr hiatus to figure out having a 4th and let my body have a break. Dh cracks up at me though, we have a small dog....and i take weird pictures of her and make up headings to go with them....and sometimes dress her in my dd's baby clothes...just for fun. Dh says I REALLY need another baby!!!! :lol My oldest is nearly 6, and sometimes the things he says just knock me over...he is totally a child...nothing babyish left, he has lost 2 teeth already, and is starting to get weird when i hug him....lots of ok mom! and wiggling. I told me 3.5 yo I wasnt going to let him go ever when I was hugging him...he said "Moommmm...you HAVE to, I HAVE to grow up into a man like Daddy!" Course I teared up at that one!!!

[2Sweeties1Angel]

My oldest just turned 5:( I'll admit that a very small part of the reason I decided to homeschool was because I always thought I'd feel old when he started Kindergarten. No Kindergarten=no feeling old. I don't want my babies to grow up, but after having lost one to the alternative (he died) I know there are worse things in life.

[Shiloh]

I have been feeling a bit sad about how big my kids are getting lately. Anyone else? I really love having little kids and though I know I will enjoy bigger kids I just feel like the time is slipping through my fingers.

Not really I like almost every stage, and the older they get the closer I get to doubling my kids in the form of grandkids, won't that be sweet? Little cute ones that you can spoil but its not a 24.7 thing!

[beth568]

I vacillate between being heartbroken that my babies aren't babies any more, and noticing something interesting and independent that my 4 year old does and thinking, "Wow! What a privilege to watch this person develop."

My 14 month old is going to be smushed from all the squeezes she gets from me. I just want to savor every last little drop of baby cuddling, because I know it won't last forever. And ds2 does this really dreamy thing of laying his head on my shoulder when I carry him, and just nuzzling his face into my neck. It just makes me weak with love. My DD2 does that, as well, and I cherish it. It's painful to think of her getting too big for that. :(

And OMG, when she decides to stop nursing, I may well lose it.

I will be fascinated to see who my kids turn into, but still...there is simply nothing better than holding your sweet tiny baby and feeling that overwhelming sense of love for a new little person. It's by far the most powerful thing I've ever experienced, and the best. I am eternally grateful to have had that privilege twice.

[snuggly mama]

Someone asked me the other day, "how old are your children", and I almost started to cry when I realized dd is nearly 11! When she walks down the stairs with her hair tied back and her dress clothes on, I see so much of the young woman she really is becoming -- and so little of the baby I remember. My ds, who'll be nine soon, is rapidly nearing my own height. When he stretches out next to me on the couch, it's hard for me to imagine how he ever fit right inside my arms. Dd turned 5 last week, and I can't believe that my last little one is so big! I look in the mirror, and I can't wrap my mind around the fact that I am the parent of pre-teens. I don't feel different, though I know I look different, then when they were babies. And I worry so much that I just don't know what I'm doing! I mean, I always felt like the needs of a baby were so simple -- nurse, cuddle, diaper change, sleep -- that I was comfortable knowing I could do them well. (Not always easily, but well!). What if I mess up? What if I'm not good at parenting teenagers? Oh, I love seeing them grow and discover and become their own person. I just want to make sure I nurture them and guide them and give them wings.

[Mountaingirl3]

Thank goodness for the prospect of grandparenthood, though. It's not the same, but it sure looks fun. And our kids' grandparents get a lot of one-on-one time with them--the kids are so attatched to them. Also, my first niece/nephew arrives in September :love .

[OakBerry]

Yes, I get weepy about this alot. My ds is 3.5 and much less snuggly than he used to be. I cherish those nights when he falls asleep snuggled against me, and when he lets me pick him up and he wraps his arms and legs around me and puts his head on my shoulder. I think that's what I'm going to miss most of all, carrying him. I think what makes it worse is that due to health issues, he's probably going to be my only child. I had planned on at least two so it's hard knowing there won't be any more babies. :(