Thursday, August 6, 2009

Some deep thinking at the breakfast table...

With your first child, every milestone is a meticulously recorded and talked about. I remember when jack was really young EVERYTHING was a big deal...we oo'd and awe'd at his animal sounds, we enthusiastically cheered when he learned patti-cake, we took pictures when he learned to sit up and crawl, we took videos and made phones calls over his first steps, yada yada yada...you get the picture.
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But with your second child things are a little different. Those momentous milestones are, well, not SUCH a huge deal. Though we still take a million pictures and relish in the cuteness, there is just something different. I mean, she certainly isn't "jipped" in the attention department, and we do enjoy watching her darling personality develop, but still...something is amiss. I have put a lot of thought into this lately because I feel like Bianca is all the sudden "grown-up", and I don't even think we have taught her patti-cake or any animal sounds yet. I know, mom of the year award over here!!
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What really started my thinking was this sequence. I was sitting across from her at the breakfast table, and we were just two gals, enjoying a nice bowl of Cheerios. Then it dawned in me...
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WAIT...when did she stop sitting in her high chair? when did she learn how to use a spoon?
When has she watched daddy do this so many times that she caught on?
When did she grow up from my baby into this independent "little girl"?





I sat and watched her take bit after bite of those Cheerios, and then I made a resolve. I have resolved to pay more attention...to pay more attention to those little things that mean my kids are growing up.
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And may all of you do the same!
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Now, if you will excuse me I am going to teach my daughter what a horsey says.

12 comments:

Amber said...

When did she start eating out of mixing bowls! That thing is huge! She is so adorable!!

Paul & Kaytie said...

I'm impressed that she can tilt the bowl and drink out of it with out spilling all over herself like I do. She is a darling little girl and we miss seeing her grow up.

Jonathan and Janessa said...

Those moments when you realize your child is growing up faster than you realized are so bitter sweet. Good luck on teaching her animal sounds. She's such a cutie.

Sarah said...

Thanks for the reminder - even though I am only on number one I will try to remember this with the next

Travis and Celena said...

It is crazy how time flies by and then one day you stop and realize that they know how to do something that you can't remember teaching them.

I look at my nieces and I can't believe they do the things they do.

I hope I can keep in mind to take in the moments with both of my kids.

Kim said...

Cute post. She is so freak'n cute.
Thats impressive to me that she can feed herself a bowl of cherios. I'm afraid to let clay eat cereal by himself. I just know he will throw the cherios and spill the milk everywhere.

Jessie said...

First Jill, I must say...HOW DARE YOU leave me mean comments on my blog about ugly magnets!

TOTALLY KIDDING! In fact, when I first read that I totally appreciated your honesty {even though you didn't mean it that way} and also I don't really like those magnets anyways, so I sort of had to agree. But even more so, I LOVED your idea and I think I am going to do that.

Now, lets talk about how stinking cute Bianca is! I hear with the 2nd things are always a little different. I have noticed myself stressing over stupid milestones that Crew seemed to hit a little late, but the fact is, he always hit them. When you have more then one kid, you don't have as much time to sweat the small stuff.

Emily said...

Oh man, I love those pictures. What a darling little chunk!

Amy Lindstrom ~ YourLifeUncommon.com said...

Hahaha! Amber cracks me up!

What a cute little stinker! She is getting SO big!

OH and by the way, you completely spoiled me...you know that don't you?! My heck Jill, you didn't have to do all of that! I mean I absolutely love LOVE LOVE it, but really! WOW! I just got the magnet board done and the vinyl on...and I didn't screw it up! YAY! I will post all of the stuff for you to see in the next couple of days! As soon as I stop being so productive! :) HA!

Heather said...

Chad and I are both seconds in our families, and we got robbed of precious baby photos, journals, pictures by OURSELVES, etc. So we vowed we would never do that to our second kid! And you know we will, of course. : ) Glad at least you're making the effort!!

And geez, that's a big bowl!

TracyH said...

Life after the single child... I was a second too, so I get it. Great blog! It's fun to see your cute kids from far away.

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