Mother Talkers

A Turn of the Calendar... and a Realization of How Fast the Time Goes!

by 1plain1peanut

Mon Jan 07, 2008 at 01:20:13 PM PDT

I finally got a 2008 calendar over the weekend.  I always wait until after the new year to get one because they are always at least 50% off.  As I was writing in all the family birthdays and anniversaries in the new calendar, I also put in the school holidays.  I came across ‘kindergarten registration” for May 5th.  Yikes!  My baby will be starting kindergarten in 8 months!  

It doesn’t stop there.  I ponder the year... 2008.  My son is in 2nd grade.  He’ll be graduating from high school in 10 years....2018  I’ve gotta tell you that this really freaks me out!  10 years isn’t long.  1998 was 10 years ago and it really doesn’t feel like all that long ago to me.   I remember all the hubbub about Y2K building up then like it was yesterday.  10 years is NOTHING!

I guess it’s true that time really does fly when you are having fun.  My kids are getting older and growing up.  Maybe this realization is a way for me to stop, slow down and smell the roses, so to speak.  A friend once told me of a saying her mother shared with her:

The days are long, but the years go by fast.

Boy is that ever the case.  When you have babies, the days seem to last forever.  But then you look up one day and your baby is sitting up... then crawling... then walking... then running all over the place.  Then you are signing them up for preschool and eventually, elementary school.  

That’s where I’m at now... I’ll have two school aged children by summer's end.  I want to hold on to it all and keep time from passing sometimes.  Because... weeks seem to just peel by.  Whole seasons come and go.   I always look up at the end of the summer and wonder where it went.  The holidays seem to flash by too.

Time seems to go by so quickly when you are a parent, don’t you think?  

Tags: waxing philisophic, time passing (all tags)

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  • YES (0 / 0)

    too fast. I relish the stages and ages of my children and always have. When they were little, I was the only one I knew who was in no hurry for them to crawl, walk, say their first words, wean, sleep on their own, etc. I knew the time would come soon enough and it did. Too soon.

    My brother and his wife push their kids to grow up so fast. Indeed, my SIL can't wait to be a grandmother. Her kids are 8 and 6 for crying out loud!!!!

    by GiGi on Mon Jan 07, 2008 at 02:05:32 PM PDT

    • I was (0 / 0)

      kind of that way with my first.  I couldn't wait for my first to sit up, etc.  I think I was just so excited to see him go through the developmental stages.  Not anymore.  Especially after I had my second... I wanted it all to last longer.  

      "We are the music makers, and we are the dreamers of the dream..."

      by 1plain1peanut on Mon Jan 07, 2008 at 05:42:33 PM PDT

      [ Parent ]

      • Absolutely (0 / 0)

        The days seemed to drag on forever with my first, and I was always anxiously awaiting him doing "something new".  With this new baby, I want to savor every single day of babyhood.  I once heard or read that "newborns are wasted on first time parents".  Now that I've been there, done that, I totally agree!

        Now that I see my DS about to turn 4, looking so much like a school aged child, and no longer having many baby traits (where did all his baby fat go?!?!), I want to slow him down for a bit; while he still lets me cuddle him and wants me to lay in his bed and read him stories...Soon enough, he'll be posting a "keep out" sign on his door and rolling his eyes at family time.

        by Inky on Tue Jan 08, 2008 at 07:34:23 AM PDT

        [ Parent ]

  • I know (0 / 0)

    I love that quote, so true, bittersweet.

    I think this is why people just keep having babies.

    by NJmom on Mon Jan 07, 2008 at 02:24:58 PM PDT

  • Too true (0 / 0)

    Seems like 2008 snuck up on me. Today I went to Target and they are selling bikinis! WTF?

    The "time flies" thing has been on my mind a lot lately because my 10-year anniversary is coming up Jan. 17th. 10 years! How can that be? It seems like we shared our first kiss just yesterday. And here we are, several jobs and homes and a kid later.

    And Maya is turning 3 on Jan. 19th. I shed a tear on both her 1st and 2nd birthdays, just realizing how bittersweet it is to watch her grow. I have a feeling the waterworks will turn on again this year...

    by Erika on Mon Jan 07, 2008 at 04:24:24 PM PDT

  • I know (0 / 0)

    It's been hitting me hard lately.  Simone will be 4 on the 13th.  She recently demanded short hair, and looks so mature with her sassy bob.  It's exciting to watch her grow, but it makes my heart ache, too.  

    I especially love toddlers, and I will be so sad when I don't get any more!  Makes me tear up just thinking about it.

    I do the calendar thing, too.  It seems ridiculous to pay full price when I know for a fact precisely when they will go on sale, and for how much.

    by Erin on Mon Jan 07, 2008 at 11:20:54 PM PDT

  • I'm appreciating it as fast as I can. (0 / 0)

    The whole thing kinda gets me down.  Not that it's going by but that I'm supposed to appreciate it.  I run into old ladies in the grocery store who tell me all the time that "it goes by so fast" when they look at my kids.  I know that it does.   I don't know how to appreciate it more than I am.  

    I'm really enjoying them so much more now that they're older - my last baby will start kindergarten in the fall too and I'm thrilled.  I know that we're at a totally golden age right now - they sleep through the night, no one needs a diaper and they all speak in complete sentences and can tell my what's wrong rather than trying to interpret a crying baby's needs.   And, they're not teenagers and hating my guts just yet.   It's a golden age.   I appreciate it.  Now what?    

    "Nothing worth having comes without some kind of fight. Gotta kick at the darkness til it bleeds daylight"

    by lonestar canuck on Tue Jan 08, 2008 at 07:10:33 AM PDT

  • 17 years ago today... (0 / 0)

    i was giving birth to my dd. and as the old saying goes, it seems like yesterday.
    having children makes you fully realize the value of living every moment in the moment, doesn't it?  

    standing before me today is a young woman on the verge of adulthood.

    takes my breath away.

    by parentalunit1 on Tue Jan 08, 2008 at 08:32:23 AM PDT

  • My kids are (0 / 0)

    almost the same ages as yours (a second grader and a younger one who is about to turn 4).

    It is amazing how quickly it has gone, really, although on the other hand pre-kids seems like ancient history.

    We have been clearing out the baby stuff, which is a bittersweet thing to do, although I really have no desire to go back to that stage - the exhaustion and diapers and screaming...  It was cute and special, though.  :)

    Katherine

    by pat of butter in a sea of grits on Tue Jan 08, 2008 at 09:21:03 AM PDT

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