Chomp! - An Evolution

1 week - very loose and covers hands completely

3 weeks - still loose, hands mostly covered

5 weeks - hands out, still bunchy

7 weeks - getting tight

This is my favorite outfit that Nathan has. Dave and I bought it before he was even born, calling the green stripes "gender neutral" and insanely entertained by the alligator saying "Chomp!"

Nate has worn it and worn it and worn it some more. And if I needed proof, besides the occasional backache, that my baby is growing, here it is. Over the course of his short life it has gone from twice his size and swallowing his tiny hands to tight. So tight, in fact, that when I put it on him the other day I realized he couldn't fully stretch out his little legs because the suit was too short.

Short it may have been, but because mommy stubbornly refused to believe her baby could be outgrowing newborn clothes, he wore it all day.

And then I washed it.

I stopped short of hanging it back up in the closet, though. I'm not going to put it on him again. He has other cute things and I've always been a comfort over fashion girl anyway. It's draped over the edge of the crib, serving as a moment to moment reminder that he's growing up.

I want him to grow up. The alternatives are too painful to contemplate. I want him to walk and talk and go to college and have a little squeaker of his own. But I know when he walks he'll walk away from me. When he talks he'll argue. And what if he goes to USC? What do we do then?

I can imagine college. I can imagine high school and a wedding. All those things are so far in the future, they are easy to imagine. What my mind's eye just cannot see, is this.

The day this Chomp! suit - sized 9 months - fits my baby.

That's too close. It's hazy. Sitting up, rolling, over, crawling. All so close that I can't see it because I don't see how we get from here to there. Daddy went away for 36 hours and came home to a boy who is noticeably more vocal. One day will be the day he rolls over. Yesterday he couldn't and today he can. Just like that. But I can't imagine it. I don't try too hard because I am spending my energy storing pictures in my heart so when these precious moments are replaced by new precious moments I will not have lost anything.

Every day is the best there ever was and the best there ever could be.

Still, it's hard to say good bye even if you say it with style.

Later Gator!