I was in the kitchen the other day when my seven year old son yelled to me from the living room, “Hey, Mom! Can I watch Cars?”
I replied, “No, you watched it on Sunday and again on Monday. Why don’t you read a book instead?”
And, apparently he didn’t like my response because then he yelled, “Ugh! Don’t answer my questions ever again!”
My seven year old son was playing around at bedtime recently, when I heard my husband yell up to him, “Quit goofing off and go night-night!”
I stopped what I was doing and took note of the moment, because I was certain that my husband hadn’t said, “night-night” in years and that it would likely be the last time he uttered those words with one of our kids.
I suddenly wondered; when did we stop saying that? Words like night-night, binky and blankie are now but distant memories.
When did my son stop calling me, “Mama” and start calling me “Mommy”? When did my daughter stop calling me “Mommy” and start calling me “Mom”? And, when did she stop calling me “Mom” and start calling me “Hmmph” with an accompanying eye-roll?
These moments fly by, as much of life does, without us even taking notice. I, for one, am too busy cleaning the kitchen or picking up dirty socks to document anything but the big stuff.
I have photos of pre-school graduations and videos of talent shows. I have programs from Christmas plays and boxes full of artwork but, how are you supposed to note the last time your child referred to the dog as a “doggie”?
Hearing my husband call up to our son made me aware that those moments had passed us by. One minute my daughter was eating jars of food she called “num-num” and the next she’s bringing home division-of-decimals-by-whole-numbers homework.
And if there’s anything that makes you wish your kids were still saying things like “night-night”, it’s that.
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