I Think I Can, I Think I Can...

I think I can, I think I can....Jean Stockdale has taught us in MOMS for years that party of our job as moms is to slowly release our children into the adult world so that they're ready to be independent. I'm not good at that at all! If I could, I'd keep them all babies for a very, very long time and then ease them into toddlerhood. After that, to be quite honest, I'd fast forward from 2 until age 4....right now I have both a 2 and a 3 year old in the house as I've had for a few years now...and it's rough!

So what does this picture having to do with all of that?!? Today we threw out THE HIGHCHAIR! We purchased this when Abby was 4 months old and about to start rice cereal. I remember going with Matt to Babies R Us in Memphis and picking this one out because it was bright, had fun toys that could detach, and had 3 washable trays that snapped off. We had NO IDEA that we'd have this highchair for the next SEVEN years!!!! This high chair has sat all of our babies from their first bites of cereal to their last days when baby sister or brother needed to take over the throne. Well, Grant is 2 1/2 now, and there's no baby brother or sister waiting in line this time for the highchair. But it was time. It's been past time. He's needed to be in a big boy chair for a long, long time. But he's my last (unless God has a really great surprise in store for me one day)...and I've let him be a baby in every way much longer than I did with the girls. At his age, they were all in big kid seats, potty trained, way past the pacifier...but not Grant :) My little man isn't even thinking about a potty (except to flush Awana books and dolls in), nor is he even budging an inch on the pacifier issue. He's told me clearly before when we couldn't find a paci that I could go to Target and buy a new one. He's smart!

So today, while I didn't break down for Matt, I was silently grieving this visible reminder that our house is becoming one of big kids and not babies any longer. We once had two cribs, a pack n play, swings, bouncies, play yards, jumpers, changing tables, and even a highchair in our house. The other items have gone one by one to friends and to charity...but the highchair was one of the last remaining pieces of being a mom to a little bitty one.

So, I'm trying to tell myself that I can do this....I can start to teach them to grow up and to help them move from stage to stage....I just may have to rock babies at church more often now :)