At the speed of light.

You always hear “it goes so fast!” when people talk about their kids.

It’s sort of a spin on the “just wait until…” talk. And I always rolled my eyes when someone would tell me that I should savor everything, because it always goes quickly. Yada yada.

Especially because after more than three years of infertility before we brought O home with us, J and I were USED to time being slow. Broken up in 2ww increments, in surgeries, in cycles, in vacations.

It really felt like we were just marking time, waiting for our real life to begin.

It’s been more than 19 months since we brought O home.

And really.

You’d THINK that would be enough time to get used to the speed of real life.

But we find ourselves shaking our head at how damn quickly everything’s going.

O has turned into a bona fide little boy. He loves his trucks (“guks!”), slides, cars, books.

He’s started insisting on eating a whole apple, instead of allowing me to cut it up for him.

He relishes in pointing out things from the backseat. Like whenever we go over the bridge near our house – “WOAH!!! Wa-wer!” And “Mommy! Guck!” And “YAY- CAR!”

He knows that mommy and daddy drink coffee “gaw-gee!” and cook with “hot!” things.

He and his “ditty!” Puck seemed to have made their peace with each other. Puck sniffs O’s snack offerings and LOVES bubbles just as much as O does.

He loves to be “OWWWWT!” and when the weather’s bad, he stands at the door, his face pressed against the window, morose that he can’t be outside.

He spends whole MINUTES playing by himself – chattering away in his corner, playing with blocks or his cars or his toy drum.

He ADORES music and not only claps in time with the music we play for him on the radio, but asks hopefully “more?” when the CD is in between songs.

He loves the “itsy bitsy spider” and is working on figuring out how to snap his fingers.

I think back to when I was pregnant, and I have a hard time wrapping my brain around the fact that it was TWO YEARS AGO.

It’s just going so damn fast.

And it’s not like I’m SAD about it, or anything. Really, he’s so much fun right now. And there’s so much to look forward to, seeing him grow and become his own person. And it’s my privilege to help TEACH him how to be a good person.

So really, I’m not all that upset that he’s not my baby anymore.

It’s more that I just keep shaking my head at how damn QUICKLY we’re moving from place to place.

And I want to slow down, and SAVOR our time with him. Like he’s a fine wine, or cheese.

But it’s moving at the speed of light. If I try and savor, I’ll MISS something.

So okay. Instead of savoring, I’m just trying not to blink.

And so now, when people in the store see him and say to me “it goes by really quickly,” I smile and agree.

Because man.

It really DOES go by at the speed of light.