Crossing the Aisle

If there's one thing I've learned as a parent..it's to expect the unexpected.  I knew going into this parenting thing that we would hit milestones.  That between learning to roll over and learning to crawl, milestones would be part of our lives from here on out.

What I didn't realize is that it wasn't just child milestones that we would be experiencing.  Turns out we parents hit our own milestones.  They may not be as easy to identify as the first time a child crawls or walks but they are there and they start early.

I've talked about them here, I didn't call them milestones but maybe realizations.  Take, for example, the time I realized motherhood isn't so bad.  My entire pregnancy with E, I struggled with the idea that I was going to be a mom.  I worried and stressed about how I would manage...then E came and at some point very quickly after that I realized you just do.  It might seem like an easy enough lesson to learn but for me, it was an awakening of sorts.

Then when we found out MiniE was coming, I worried about what life would be like with two...would E be ok with having a sibling?  How were we going to manage two?!  More worry, more fear but then she showed up and all the worry melted away, and I realized that my heart was capable of loving so much more than I thought.  There was room for more!  Another milestone.

I'm getting all deep here and I really didn't intend to but this weekend something happened and I realized that while it was a change, a milestone for E, it ended up being as much of a milestone for me.

I crossed the aisle.

"Huh?" you say.  I'm talking about clothes shopping at Target.  I went to get E some new shorts and I immediately went to the baby/toddler section only to find nothing in his size.  All too small.  So I looked around kind of lost..Now what?  Where do I go?

Then I saw it, across the aisle was an entire new part of the store, I had never really ever paid attention to...the "Kids" section.  I resisted crossing the aisle at first.  That was uncharted territory that I wasn't sure I wanted to explore yet.  But I had no choice, E needed clothes.

Slowly, I crossed the aisle and I started to tear up.  What the heck is wrong with me?!  Seriously?! Then I realized what I was feeling..was I losing my toddler?  Was he becoming a kid? Where has the time gone?

I looked around and found what I was looking for.  I looked at the sizes and there it was...XS, E's size, as if to validate the fact that, yep, I'm losing a toddler and gaining a kid.

Ready or not, it's here.  Luckily for me, I can still wonder the aisles of Carters and find clothes his size but not much longer.  Luckily for me, MiniE is still deeply rooted in the baby section or I might lose my ALL my marbles on my next shopping trip.

Either way, it just reminded me that this journey is as much about us as it is them.  Take it day by day, embrace it, savor it, and most of all, roll with the punches.

What milestones have you hit as a parent?  

 You might also like: Path to Motherhood, The Need to be Needed