They're Growing Up Too Fast

We hear it all the time. Whether it is in reference to your own kids or other people's they always seem to be "growing up too fast". We'll call this GUTF for short. As the Texas Bateman clan is now at a healthy count of 4, I am beginning to think that our kids are GUTF. At the transitional age of 1 1/2, Emily is definitely of the GUTF persuasion.

But how do you know? What are the indicators that your child is GUTF? I think it is much less an age to milestone correlation and more of a melancholy passing of each milestone for the last time. It is the little things like screwing on the top of a sippy cup or peeling a banana. Those little things that your children have watched you do a hundred times, but they still rely on you to do it. Most of the little things are the ones that let us know our children are GUTF. I am certainly proud of Jackson for his outstanding reading capabilities at 3 1/2, but I would not say he is growing up too fast because of that. Instead it would be the numerous things for which he now responds "I'll do it myself." Nothing digs GUTF in deeper that the realization that your child is now an independent functioning being.

So what, on this Saturday morning, made me reflect on this unfortunate truth? Pajamas. From the time of birth, your children rely on you to get 'em into their clothes. As an infant they certainly don't get the whole arm-in-the-armhole thing. In fact, there is generally quite a bit of resistance in the form of tight arms with bent elbows. As time goes on, the child grows up just a little bit and realizes that it is probably an OK thing to have a shirt on. Following from this is the correlation that Dad guiding your hand through this hole in the fabric makes the shirt sit right on your body. A few misguided limbs help to set in this reality by the strange sensation of an incorrectly donned garment. But the final, and most disturbing realization is when the child realizes that they need only to confidently extend their arm through that window of fibers in order to begin to take control of their destiny.

This morning, Emily gracefully slid both arms through the short yellow sleeves of some of her favorite Dora pajamas. If it wasn't for my help getting her head through the neck to get started, Emily could run the whole operation herself. She is truly GUTF.

Luckily, she already had on some pink long sleeved Dora pajamas on underneath, so there are lessons left to be shared and Mom and Dad are still needed for something :)