Too big, too long, too mobile

And then, just like that, in a matter of a few days maybe a week, everything was too small. He is now too heavy for my favorite sling, too mobile for my favorite bouncy chair, too long for my favorite towel, too big for our favorite hammock.

So on Sunday, with a sort of bittersweet longing for what was, I packed these favorites into a storage container and placed it in the garage, to be opened again should there be a baby number two.

What has stayed with me is how much effort, time and energy I put into choosing and obtaining these "favorites". Some were gifts, others were the divine answers to the unexpected needs that arose in the first weeks of new parenting (ie. the hammock saved our lower backs from endless hours of bouncing on the yoga ball). The decisions all seemed so important, and then a little over 6 months later, the results simply lie dormant in a box in the garage.

So it is once again a lesson in the fluidity of the first 12 months of life - how much change and transformation occurs in such a short span of time. And it is a lesson for me, to not get attached to the "stuff" of child-rearing, because I have a lifetime of favorites still to come.

As a side note...I read this post aloud to my husband just now. And as I read, he blurted out "The hammock's gone?" And it made me smile - that was one of his favorites too.