by Sara McGinnis posted in Parenting

During my first year as a parent I must have said "shhhhhh shush hush shush shhhhhhhhhush," a hundred times a day as I swished and swayed my swaddled son all over the house. At times my mouth would dry out from the amount of air passing through it.
And then he morphed from being some sort of alien newborn into a so-cute-you-want-to-eat-him baby. And I got even more ridiculous.
Take a look at the words I spat, rinsed, and repeated as my boy grew:
Age 1 -- Goochie goo, booblie coo!
Age 2 -- Not in your mouth!
Age 3 -- Gentle! touch it gently.
Age 4 -- Potty" Do you need to go potty"
Age 5 -- Have a good day, I love you.

Age 6 -- Did you really wash your hands"
Age 7 -- For the last time, leave your brother alone. Age 8 -- Wear a helmet!
Age 9 -- Because I said so.
Age 10 -- If you flip that water bottle one more time...
Age 11 -- Do you think that video/game/book/song is appropriate"
Age 12 -- Who else is going to be there and what time are you coming back"
I'm not typically an overly nostalgic person, but that switch from 4 to 5 gets me a little choked up! One second you're racing them to the bathroom, just trying to keep their pants dry, and the next they're out the door to start school. That's a big leap.
For us, things got somewhat calm after that -- up until 12. One year ago (heck, even six months ago) none of my elder son's peers had a cell phone or a girlfriend. Now they all seem to have both. A...