This Too Shall Pass

Mary (9 months) is on the right, caught helping herself to cereal. Ben (2) is on the left after a good hair washing in the toilet. This too shall pass. But do I want it to? I've done this enough to know how quickly their first year passes and how much they change during that time frame. They will never learn so many new things and grow at that rate ever again! This is encouraging but also saddening. When you are going through a difficult time, it's always nice to know that they will grow out of it. However, wishing them to grow up means wishing away some of the very sweetness of the age.

Before Ben turned two, he used to cry every time I jumped in the shower. I'd try to sneak off while he was watching TV, but he would inevitably hear the water running and come screaming after me. I always kept the door ajar so he could come in, but that meant hearing loud screaming during my entire shower. It's not the most pleasurable experience. My decision to shave my legs was based on how hard he was crying or whether he got distracted from it. This stage eventually changed to him wanting IN the shower, but only with his clothes on. I only let this happen a couple of times because it was quite a pain. After this point, every time he would try to come into the shower he would turn away as soon as I would move to take his shirt off or tell him I was going to wash his hair (he didn't like that). So this was a nice deterrent, except for the fact that during my whole shower I had to repeat that I would take off his shirt and wash his hair (because he would make a move back to the shower door only seconds after he ran away from it). This eventually changed to him letting me take off his shirt AND bathe him AND wash his hair. So not only was I getting my own shower in, peacefully, but I was cleaning him at the same time. He was happy and I was happy.

Now toys are kept in the shower so he can play with them while he showers with me. He happily plays in the water and I happily shave my legs. I know eventually... this too shall pass. Will I miss him in my shower? Probably not. Will I miss his clinginess that will subside has he gets older? I doubt it. But I WILL miss the way his little body still fits in my lap, the wonder in his eyes when he sees a train, the way he eyes a shot before swinging his plastic golf club, his chubby cheeks, fat hands and innocence. This too shall pass. And I want to remember as much of it as possible.