On Motherhood

My baby is now 17 months old, that's almost a year and a half. She is getting so big. She understands so much. She knows so much. I can ask her to do something, like throw something in the garbage or bring someone a specific item, and she can do it (now, this doesn't always mean she DOES do it, but she CAN). We spend our days together completing small tasks, putting things away, throwing things out, carrying objects back and forth across in the house in the hopes of tiring her out, and each time she follows instructions, I am amazed at how much she has grown.
She isn't a baby anymore. Of course she is my baby, but really, she is a toddler, on her way to becoming a little girl. Before a year, people always thought she was younger because she was so slight, now, because of the hair and the height, they generally think she's older. It's so bittersweet.
Christmas is just around the corner, and holiday nostalgia prompted me to look back on last year's Christmas pictures. I cannot believe how much my little girl has changed in one year. It is unbelievable that last year she wasn't even sitting up on her own, wasn't eating solid foods, I could put her down on a blanket and know she'd still be there in 5 minutes (or ten, or 30 seconds). Now I have a toddler who never stops, who eats like it's her job, who is always on the go.
Last Christmas she sat in her Bumbo and watched us open presents. This year I have to hide her (and all) present because she is a professional present opener.
Last year I had baby. This year I have a toddler.
It has also made me more nostalgic to my own family traditions. My mom (aka GranO) was saying that she didn't think she was going to use the Christmas plates this year, that she was sick of them. I couldn't believe it, I can't imagine a Christmas without those plates! Now I can't wait to bring them home and have my own children use them; to start our own traditions.
Now we have a fancy tree upstairs, that is true, but we also have our family tree downstairs in the living room, with handmade decorations, and those handed down, that we can form new memories for.
I look back at old family pictures of myself as a child, see us all sitting around the tree with our dog, and see how much my new family resembles my former one. I see my mother and grandmother in myself, surrounded by family and by love. Children growing up may be bittersweet, but creating new memories and traditions is nothing but sweet.