by Becky Vieira posted in Parenting

As soon as my son turned 9 months old people started asking me the question.
?Aren?t you sad" He?ll be one soon!?
I?d defer my answer by pointing out that he still had a few months to go, or that I wasn't ready to think about it. But the truth was I'd been counting the days until his first birthday since around the time we first brought him home from the hospital.
I should be sad, right" Or nostalgic. That's the answer people expect. This once-tiny baby is growing so quickly. Time is precious and it's flying.

My answer may not be popular, but it?s honest. I?m not sad he will soon be one year old. I'm happy.
I didn't do well with the early baby days and I?m excited to move onto this next chapter. Mind you, I'd like to freeze time right now. But I'm glad to have the past stay there. And while he will always be ?my baby? he hasn?t actually been a baby for a few months now, or so it?s felt. All that's left is for me to train my brain to call him a toddler. We're both ready. Of course I've always loved my child. But the early days were hard. Yes, we are lucky. Blessed. He was and is healthy. That doesn?t mean I'm required to enjoy the first few months we spent together.
As for missing the past or wanting to go back, you can forget it. My son had acid reflux. He screamed for approximately 21 of 24 hours a day. For four months straight. He needed to be rocked to sleep for upwards of an hour and awoke the second I set him down. He...