Watching my baby grow up/beautiful/bittersweet

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When my son was a baby I remember just holding him and staring at him and thinking how I wasn't ready for him to grow up so quickly. I would sometimes kind of panic at the thought of him being an adult and then I'd calm myself and say "That day isn't today, I have a lot more time". The truth is I did but I didn't. The time flew by and I'd always tell myself "But that day is not today". The next thing I knew that day would come. I registered him for kindergarten, I sent him on his first day to school, and I watched each year as he did all of those things I thought were so far away. The thing is they weren't bad things they just came quicker than I would have liked. I wanted my baby to stay a baby just a little bit longer. A song by Trace Adkins comes to mind "Then They Do". They do all of those things you thought were miles away and it happens so quickly. Kids have a way of growing up very quickly. I wish I could go back and tell myself to enjoy it but to realize that each thing that came with them growing up is just as beautiful. It's all very bittersweet but oh so beautiful. Watching my son struggle and then figuring it out, watching as he grows and becomes this amazing human, and realizing that as much as I miss those baby years I love watching him become the human he is and will be. Every stage is beautiful in its own way, some are harder than others but they are all beautiful and worth it. It is hard watching him grow up but I've learned to accept it and enjoy it in the moment. It is hard watching your child grow up sometimes but every step is just as amazing as the one before it, it's just different. Kids grow up, that's what they do and some parents are so absorbed in whatever they are doing they are missing it. My thirteen-year-old son is not the baby he was but he's still just as amazing and I still enjoy my time with him just as much. It's true he doesn't need me in the way he once did. He no longer follows me around the house clinging to me and begging me to read him a story or play a game but he still comes to talk to me and tell me about his day or will ask to watch a movie. He still wants me to be proud of him and I make sure he knows every single day how proud I am of him. Watching them grow up is hard but it is one of the most beautiful things you'll ever experience. I will say if you have babies and small children soak it up and enjoy it because it's so fleeting. One day they do get bigger and need you less so just enjoy this moment of their littleness and the way they need you because one day they won't need you the same way anymore, they won't be able to curl up on your lap and give you hugs and kisses, they won't want to be underfoot anymore and you will miss it but that said, everything is replaced with a different just as amazing version of the little person who came before as they change and grow. Don't fear them growing up because that's part of life but do enjoy each and every moment at each and every stage because you'll miss them all.