Growing Up

Our family attends a fairly large church that runs three services and Sunday Schools simultaneously.   Since my husband is on staff, we have lots of folks that we know but we only see once in a while.  So nearly every Sunday at least one person makes some comment about how fast or how much my children are growing.  I've developed a standard response.  I almost always say, "I know, it's the craziest thing, you feed them, they grow!"  

But, today as we were playing on the beach, I had one of those moments where I realized how fast they really are growing up.  There were several little benchmarks on this beach trip that made me realize how rapidly they're growing and gaining independence.  Here are a few things that hit me during these few days at the beach:

• This was the first time all of my children could write their own name in the sand.
  
  
• I didn't have to spend my entire time at the beach keeping children from chasing the helpless birds and they all actually wanted to go into the waves of their own free will.
  
• Everyone managed to apply their own sunscreen, without my help!
• We actually have a decent photo of Ryan and I TOGETHER taken by one of our children.
  
   
• When we took them to the outlet mall to get their fall shoes, we found out Abby now needs ladies sized shoes- goodbye Stride Rite!

It's bittersweet.  I know that's the way it's supposed to be.  It's the natural progression of things.  But, I know there will be many times in the future that I will long for little shoulders to slather with sunscreen and toddlers who get glee from tormenting the gulls.  So, I'm going to make every effort to treasure these moments that seem to be fleeting so quickly.