On borrowed time in the baby room
Mums are obsessed with time, aren’t we? All those conversations about ages and stages, the count down and up to birthdays and milestones, the constant surprise that you now have a child who is that old.
But if you think about it, it’s easy to see why – every minute of pregnancy, even from pre-conception, is carved up into units and measures and numbers: 28 day cycles, the two week wait, the 12 week scan, the endless weeks + days count of the three trimesters and nine months of pregnancy, due dates, going so many days overdue, “you’re ten centimetres dilated, now push!” And that’s before the time of birth is joyfully called out and the fun really begins.
This is on my mind today as it’s Eliza’s penultimate day in the baby room at nursery. She’s due to move up to the toddler room next week, along with all of her mini peers. Despite a shaky start and many tears (mostly mine) she’s absolutely flourished at nursery. And she’s very ready to go up. About twice as tall as the youngest babies, last week she led a mutiny where she taught them all how to climb on the sofa. The toddler room has more space, a proper slide, and really exciting toys. She’s had a lot of fun on her settling-in visits. Great, right?
Yes, of course, but it’s just that…well…wow, it seems to have come round so quickly. Despite the 5.30am starts, seemingly endless days and countless sleepless nights that stretch out till the end of time, I’m still surprised on a daily basis that I suddenly have an 18 month old daughter. How is she now old enough to be moving up to anywhere already? The new room is only about three seconds worth of steps away, but seems a giant leap.
It’s not even about wishing back the past, as I find toddlerdom brilliant (isn’t it?). I’m fascinated by my daughter; she’s always on the move, a whirlwind of chatty activity who is constantly busy busy busy, as she dashes headlong into the future. This age is fantastic. It all just seems to be happening very fast.
You can’t stop the clock, of course, and I wouldn’t want to even try. I’m so excited for whatever’s coming next for all three of us. But for now, for this week, I’m going to leave my watch on the shelf and enjoy that last few days of her being in the comforting cocoon of the baby room…just for now.
The photo at the top was one of the ones I took to make a card for her key worker – the toys say ‘thank you’ (pretty tricky to do first thing in the morning with a mild hangover, when most of the toys are in the loft for our house viewings). It’s a bit clearer right-way up – I think!
3 Comments
Gaynor
September 5, 2013 at 1:24 pm
How did she get on?
Holden was due to move to the tweenies room at his old nursery but they didnt bother as he only had 4 weeks left there; now at his new nursery the 0-2 are all in the same room so a few more months till he will move! Im not sure I can believe he’ll be 2 in five months!
gillian
September 7, 2013 at 12:25 pm
She was fine! Thank you. She loves it. Basically they all just run round all day like manics and get to go to the garden all the time. I can’t believe we’ll nearly have two year olds soon yikes! xx
Oliver
September 17, 2013 at 2:06 pm
Hi Gillian,
You are absolutely right, “Mums are obsessed with time”. But nice to know that, your beautiful child is fine. God bless her.