With all the focus on "Baby's First ____", I think we overlook the equally poignant (but perhaps more heart-wrenching) parenting moments---the LAST time our kids do something. Some of these milestones are much anticipated (i.e. diaper-changing or anything else involving bodily fluids), some ambivalent (spoon-feeding, drinking from a bottle), some too heartbreaking to even imagine (reading bedtime stories, being carried in our arms). Only thinking back do I realize how many "lasts" we've already had with B, and are starting to experience with L. We aim to record & photograph the firsts, but the lasts are seldom celebrated and often slip by unnoticed. Maybe because beginnings are much more unequivocally joyful than endings. Or maybe because, as bittersweet as it feels, we know our kids are moving on to bigger & better things and we don't want to cling so hard to the past that we hold them back from the future. Good practice for the inevitable results of parenting, I suppose!
So true. Who said that parenting is mostly just a process of letting go? I can't remember, but you and that person are correct. I realized the other day that we hadn't put E in her bouncy chair in a couple of weeks, which was then followed by the realization that we should now give away the bouncy chair altogether. She can sit on the floor fine by herself and she's moved out of the bouncy chair phase. Ack. How did I miss the last time in the bouncy chair??
ReplyDeleteBTW, I like the new green scheme of your page! Beautiful for spring.
Didn't realize until you mentioned it...L hasn't been in his bouncer for over a week! (though not ready to get ready of ANYTHING yet...a whole different topic)
DeleteI love this post! I struggle with my son's "lasts" all the time. It breaks my heart when we all of a sudden realize that he doesn't do something anymore - like his little whistle sound he made when he was hungry, or his "bull face" when he was excited. Yes, they move onto bigger things - but I so miss the littler things ;)
ReplyDeleteSeems like the lasts often slip away unnoticed because we don't necessarily mean for them to be the last. With the last bottle or diaper, you might purposely declare, this is the last time. With most, as in Rachael's example, you think there will be a next time and there just isn't.
ReplyDeleteYes, this is absolutely true. I'm just trying to be more mindful of the ends of phases...I kept thinking there was loads of time left to, for example, record B singing off-key & jumbled up ABCs or photograph L sitting in his bouncer---but really those phases are over.
DeleteI get pretty choked up thinking about lasts...I'm glad many of them can't be predicted. I'd hate to spend every day thinking "will this be the last time she..." Mainly I'm just so glad we get to savor this stuff.
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