This week the Baby has been practicing standing all on his own. The first steps towards walking. With him doing that I was catapulted back to a time when the Big One was learning to walk, and with it, hazy memories of the baby years gone by. Steps taken to reach for the wooden spoon. Sat in a coffee shop on a sunny December day as he practiced walking those 6 steps between myself and the husband. Looking at him now, a rambunctious 3 year old running and jumping.
And I’m sad.
Don’t get me wrong, with both of my boys reaching the next milestone is exciting, from rolling to crawling to walking. From Baby babble to little people conversations. From gummy smiles to toothy grins. Each stage has it’s own rewards, it’s own hardships. Each stage is fulfilling and mind numbing in equal measure. What I didn’t expect was the haziness.
Each stage the Baby reaches I remember when the Big One was doing the same. The little things. The fact that he commando crawled rather than “proper” crawled. Chubby little fingers reaching up and grasping at furniture helping to stand. The look what I can do grins. But until the Baby got there those little memories were locked away. Hidden in the depths of my mind.
Now the Baby is the one doing those things. Moving at the speed of light away from his baby days and heading straight towards toddlerdom.
Now my hazy memories include the heady heights of two sets of newborn days, the euphoria of finally holding my boys, stroking downy soft hair. Tracing their features with my fingers, feeling the softness of their chubby cheeks. The haze of newborn sleep deprivation. The inability to sleep when the baby sleeps because there was so much to wonder at. So much to drink in. So much to remember, to feel, to love.
The hazy memories of a baby on the move. That first startled roll. The glint in the eye as they realise they can get to things they couldn’t before. Those chubby, grabbing fingers. The heart in your mouth moments as you want to wrap them in cotton wool but realise that you can’t.
The hazy memories of the escapades they get up to….. As they navigate stairs for the first time, the swing at the park, head back full blown laughing. The cheeky look as they climb on the table to get a reaction. The way they streak away from you mid-nappy change. Bare bum glinting as you chase with a nappy in hand.
Hazy memories, of my beautiful second baby, mingling with the hazy memories of my first. Moments of clear clarity when the Baby reminds me of days gone by with the Big One. The Baby following in the shadow of the Big One, always.
No one following the Baby. Hazy memories staying hazy, until I root around to find them.
No more newborn days, to jog those hazy memories, the way he slept so peacefully in my arms. Lying on my chest, tiny little mewls, little mouths forming that perfect O as they yawn.
The toddler days are ahead of us, building up new memories to be stored in my memory bank. Pushing those memories of baby days further back, still there just a little hazier than before. My Baby is still a baby but it’s speeding by.
Sepia memories.
Still there to be cherished. Still there to be examined.
I just need to dig a little deeper. Jog a memory with a photo, with a Facebook status, with a blog post.
To marvel at what has been and to wonder at what is coming.
Sepia memories. Hazy memories of the baby years. The technicolour of today. The promise of the future.
All of it cherished.
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Beautiful post Laura – those memories aren’t always so easy to hold on to as clearly as we would like are they? It’s one of the things I love about blogging though – it helps me record those memories so that I can recall them more clearly later on.
Aw this reminds me to savour these newborn days, well he’s 5 months now, so not a newborn anymore eeek!! Beautifully written post, thank you for sharing! #bestandworst
I know!!! I sometimes look at those baby photos, and I know that I remember the photos, but feel like I can’t quite remember that baby. And then I’ll hear a song, or smell something and I am plunged right back in to that moment. All really well said. #bestandworst
aw I so get this as I look back to pictures of my daughter and can’t remember when she was small, what she used to do or sound like!! It’s odd. But like the comment above her old Jumparoo music will start to play and I will remember it, a memory will come back. This is making me thing I need to savour every moment of number 2. Thanks for sharing with #bestandworst x
Love this, especially the hazy memories as its so true. I don’t even remember the first few weeks of tiny baby (except for photos to jog my mind) x thank you for sharing something that’s personal and resonates with most mummies.
What a lovely post. I do miss having a little baby but I also love the way my two are now, they’re so much more fun now that they’re a bit bigger. Baby memories and photos are always lovely to look back on though.
Nat.xx