09/18/2024
A N D // then one day, it stops.
You unexpectedly notice that they don't do it any more. There was no warning sign, no countdown, not even a memo to let us say goodbye. You weren’t quite sure when it happened and feel a little saddened that you missed it.
The last time they did it.
Bedtime bottom pats no longer needed to settle their tired heads. And the butterfly kisses before school subtly passed up for a running wave to catch their mates. Then as you scurry behind a toe stepping toddler down a busy shopping centre aisle, it hits you like a brick wall. The hip that once held that little swinging bottom for longer than you could sometimes manage, all of a sudden feeling weightless, empty, unnecessary.
The thumb sucking, the early morning visits, the hair twirling. Their little curl their lip makes when they say pasketti instead of spaghetti. Their after bath nudie runs laced with cheek hurting giggles and their silent but needed hand holding when they’re nervous.
All their little idiosyncrasies, their mannerisms, their precious things that make them, them
They all have an expiry date.
Whether it’s habits you’ve wanted to break
sweetness you’ve wanted to savour or
twinklings you’d intentionally invented
to knit into your days so they would become core memories.
They all stop.
One day.
And if you’re lucky enough to be witness to the end, before it’s gone, before they don’t do it anymore, then savour. Relish. Breathe it in. Write it down. Catch it on film.
Because, these babies of ours don’t keep.
And that just might be the hardest part of motherhood, watching our babies grow up.
💔
Words available on Etsy 💫
https://littlejemmings.etsy.com/listing/1638240865