Parenting Moments Gone By and Almost Gone By

The lovely Helen over at The Busy Mama is running a linky this month about parenting moments gone by. The posts really are lovely, worth grabbing a cuppa and sitting in a quiet corner to have a read.

I have two wonderful little boys, the older boy is 5 and the younger boy is 2.  We have gone through many different stages in the last (almost) 6 years and it never ceases to amaze me how quick stages change and then all of a sudden they are no longer in the throes of it and something new comes along. I’ve tried to remember lots of the little things that no longer happen.

These are a thing of the past now…

• Newborn baby cuddles.
• That little noise of satisfaction babies make after they’ve been crying for milk and you start feeding them.
• Cute little vests that close under their bum and have slogans like ‘I love mummy’.
• Babygros – I even bought age 2-3 babygros for my younger boy to try to keep him a baby for longer, at bedtime at least. He now wears proper pjs like his brother.
• The cuteness of a child in a grobag, with teddy and dodi all ready for bed.
• Midnight cuddles when they wake up. I do grumble when this happens now, but I try to remember the time is coming to an end when I will be able to lift him and comfort him and a simple quick hug or some reassuring words will probably suffice in future.
• Being up in the middle of the night breastfeeding, and catching little baby smiles and it feels like there’s nobody else in the world but me and baby.
• The delight of opening the door and seeing baby standing in the cot waiting for me in the morning.
• Baby’s arms held up to be lifted.
• Food everywhere at mealtimes, it’s almost everywhere now, but it used to be absolutely everywhere.
• Big eyes peeping over the sippy cup/ bottle when they are drinking it themselves.
• Those tentative steps you take creeping out of their room when you’ve been hours trying to get them to sleep. Sometimes you are rewarded with silence and a sleepy baby but mostly you are turning around and doing the back patting and singing all over again.
• Baby all wrapped up after bathtime. I still put a hooded towel on the two year old and he asks me to wrap him up but it’s not quite the same.

My 33 month old (2 and 3/4) is almost almost out of the baby stage. He’s in his own big boy bed, he speaks well and wants to do everything his older brother is doing. It seems the only nods to babyhood is his attachment to the dodi and wearing nappies. We have tried potty training but I’ve come to the conclusion he’s not ready yet. He’s all talk but no action. We will try again in a few weeks. With the dodi I know it’s nearly time to say goodbye to it, it will be done in the next few months. ‘How‘ is the big question, but I know it will happen. And then we’ll go on to yet another stage.

Be sure to check out the other posts in the linky.