Growing-up-too-fast pangs!

As a parent, there are innumerable moments when you utter 'Oh no, my little one is growing up too fast!'

One such moment was yesterday when Anya came from school and announced solemnly ' I have got homework to do!'. Now she got homework in her Montessori too but it was more like cutting and pasting pictures, coloring and tracing alphabets et al.This time, she had to write numbers 1 and 2 in a proper square shaped blocks which somehow looked more homework-ey and I had that unmistakable feeling that my little girl was growing up fast!

The first time I felt this pang was when at 5 months, she outgrew her 0-3 months clothes. "It was just yesterday that she had arrived in this world and now she is already too old for 0-3 months clothes?" gaped I incredulously and with a stab of sadness. Another instance was when she started walking. I was ecstatic but then the crawling diminished and one fine day it dawned on me that my little baby only walked and did not crawl any more. She had metamorphosed into a toddler :(

Now when I think about those moments, they come marching...

• That moment when she started cooing at other babies rather than other people cooing at her. 
• That moment when she told me that she would go to the play area with her friends and big people were not allowed. She actually started crying when I insisted on following her.
• The first time I caught her under a blanket with the iPad.

It's only the parents who get these pangs because the little ones are extremely happy basking in the glory of growing up. 'I am bigger than you!' is her constant reminder to us these days. A little message to her:

"Grow up into a lovely lady

Just don't grow up too fast

For I want to enjoy these moments

And make them longer last!"

What have been your 'growing-up-too-fast' moments, dear reader? Do share.