No Rush to Grow Up

It seems to be easy when you have a kid to rush them in your thoughts to the next stage of development...."If only they could just tell me what they wanted", "If only they could walk", " If only they could hold their own head up." But why do we go there? Doesn't time fly fast enough? Sure, when you're caught up in the moment with a bazillion things to do - cooking dinner, keeping an eye on the baby, answering the phone, picking up the crying baby, rushing for the burning muffins, setting the baby down when she's tired (only to have her bounce wide awake as soon as you take a step away...!). In these crazy moments we go there with our thoughts...."If only" statments take over in our heads, and we for a minute imagine what life may be like "if only" our child could do just one more thing for themselves. It would be just that much easier on us, right?
I challenge myself to stop in those moments, to take back the statement "If only she could...." to "If only I could." If only I could cherish this second of life where my daughter is so sweet, so impressionable, so teachable, so cuddly, so dependant on me....and etch it into my soul, to be taken out in the future days when she doesn't want to listen to what I have to say, doesn't want to be cuddled anymore, wants to see what the world has to say, wants to be independant. I hope I can learn to appreciate these stages in all their difficulty. No matter how much they drain me, let me vow to not rush my daughter into growing up in my mind. She's already growing up too fast in real life! Unlike a lot of babies who lose several ounces of body weight in the first week, my daughter has been steadily gaining gaining gaining since day one! :)
My sister in law doesn't rush her kids to the next age until the day of their birthday... My neice won't turn 1 until 365 days after she was born. And why not?? I see her point now...