Wasn't it just yesterday?

This past weekend I went to a baby shower for a good friend of mine who is expecting her first child, a boy, in about a month and a half. She walked--no, waddled in--a huge smile on her face and almost instantly made a beeline for me, one of her few friends who has recently had a child. I gave her a hug, told her she looked beautiful (pregnant women should hear that at least five times a day I feel) and reassured her that she could, in fact, take off her sweater. She was wearing a pretty green silk shirt that, within five minutes of eating, had small stains on the tummy. You just reach a point where you can't avoid it and as I glanced at her belly and saw the stains, I smiled to myself and thought, "god, I remember that....." As she was opening her gifts I saw the toys and clothes and car seats and diapers and all the things you need for a baby and I was feeling like it wasn't so long ago that I was doing exactly what she was doing. But it wasn't until she opened her bigger car seat-which happened to be the exact same one that we recently installed for Aliza-that it hit me. Really? It was almost a full year ago that I had my baby showers. Everyone says it goes fast and, almost ten months later I agree with them fervently. A week ago we were bringing Aliza home for the first time and trying to figure out where we should put her....six days ago I was wondering if she would ever wake up so I could see her eyes....five days ago we were feeding her rice cereal for the first time and wondering if she would like it.....three days ago she said mom-mom for the first time and I swear it was just yesterday that she had her first "real" food.

And now? Now, she sits up, she crawls (mostly backwards), she pulls herself up to stand, she calls mom-mom and da-da, she smiles and giggles, she talks, she eats chicken and carrots and pears and all sorts of other yummy food, she sleeps through the night, she turns pages in a book, she lets us know where she wants to go and she does a slew of other things that astonish me every day.....including laughing at her Daddy when he is being silly. I want to tell her to slow down! And at the same time? I can't wait for what's to come....for walks and talks...for morning snuggles and bedtime book negotiations.....for first days of school and ballet class....and for all of the amazing things I know she will do and be.
But maybe not quite yet.