Another Great Article: The Lasts

When I was in college, I took a writing class and wrote an essay entitled "The Dance," and it was about my first love - Sam. At the time, we were broken up. I was still missing him so badly, and writing this piece was very cathartic; so much so that I ended up writing several additional essays just for myself about what I remembered from our relationship, our break-up, our love, our friendship, etc. At one point in the original essay, I wrote about "the lasts," which are all the times you reflect on after a relationship ends - the last kiss, the last dance, the last date, the last time you laughed together, the last time we saw each other...

Tonight, my friend posted an article on Facebook, but this time, the "lasts" are all about parenting and not knowing when the moment will come for your child to do something for the last time. I'm pretty good - okay, really good - at noting Banner's firsts. Like most parents, we want to document these momentous occasions - first tooth, first word, first food, first time to walk/crawl/stand/sit, etc. We often are in such a rush for our kids to grow up that we pay little attention to the last time they do something that makes them the babies they once were. For me, I do pay attention to some of these things. Tomorrow night, Sam and I agreed, will be Banner's last bottle. We need to move past those for various reasons, but I'm really struggling with letting go of this! Banner had his last "two-nap-day" last week, and we've made the transition to one nap a day with great ease. I'm glad the transition was so seamless - in fact, I wonder how that happened on its own so easily when I anticipated a struggle of challenging days for weeks! But, even though it was great - I miss my boy being young enough to need two-three naps. I remember the days he didn't even have a "schedule," and he napped all day in those early weeks home from the hospital. He can't stay this little forever, I know. . . and I will be glad when the frustration of this particular stage has flown by (after all, yesterday, we turned our backs for one freakin' second and the boy was playing in the toilet!). But, this article reminded me of how fast time goes by and how grateful I am to be at home with Banner these early, young days. It reminds me that so many times, I won't know that I'm witnessing "the last" something. I really couldn't have said it better than this author... Read on:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/devon-corneal/parenting-lasts_b_1874086.html