It's Just A Phase...

The other day, I didn't give little man a toy as fast as he wanted me to get it there.  When he did get the toy in his hands, he threw it up in the air, threw his hands up in the air, and then proceeded to lie down face first on the floor and wail.

Uh oh.

My first thought was to laugh, because it really was pretty cute.  But, knowing that would probably encourage the behavior, I tried to stifle the laugh and not let him see the half smile on my face.


My second thought was, "Oh no!  Have we hit the toddler meltdown stage?"  (Cue scary music here.)

Turns out, as I recognized very shortly after, little man was just really tired and nearing the end of his awake time before he was ready for a nap.  However, it got me thinking a little bit about all of the different stages and phases we've been through in his little life so far.

When he was really little, my husband and I went through what every new parent goes through, the crazy high emotions coupled with the utterly devastating lack of sleep.  It passed.

When he got a little bigger, he would love to sleep, but wanted to be rocked for hours before he would let us put him down.  While my arms and back took a small beating, he was content.  It passed.

When we thought we'd never be able to eat a real meal because he'd never feed himself, those dinners were cold and often returned to in several installments on our part.  It passed.

Altogether too soon, I'll probably be saying, "Do you remember when he....?" to my husband about what he is doing right at this moment.  Hopefully, while the stage moves on, the memories will stay.

Part of motherhood for me has been realizing that it is a journey.  No matter what stage or phase we go through, it passes.  Some of it not as quickly as we'd like, and some of it too quickly.  It is a process of holding on while letting go.  If you mamas figure out that balance, let me know how you do it :)