He's not a baby any more

It became obvious at the beginning of the new school year that Charlie is no longer a baby. It was like overnight he had grown six inches and could talk and run and jump and had grown a head of hair. For me the transformation came with pulling out his winter clothes, they're tailored more after adult fashion than infant styling. He's now wearing jeans and boots, so he looks older. But other people began to make note of the transformation as well. They would comment about how he is not a baby anymore, he's a toddler all grown up.

He'll be two years old in a couple of weeks. It is amazing how your perception of time is changed by having a kid. It can have a duality. There is the time you equate to the passing of your own life, what you perceive to be short or long passages of time. These are usually in blocks in relation to developmental stages or significant markers in life. Then there is the perception of time in relation to watching your kid grow up and how much time you will have with them in all their stages of life.

Ten years have passed since I graduated college. I fell that not much has happened in my life since then. There have been many events; a couple of job changes, more schooling, marriage, the birth of my child. But developmentally not much change has occurred. I'm now definitely considered an adult, or old by youth standards. Now compare that to what will have happened with Charlie in ten years. He will have learned to speak in sentences, learned to read, learned to play games, develop friendships, explore interests/discover hobbies, he will have finished elementary school, finished or at least started puberty, In essence he will have become a whole different person at least twice over as he becomes an adolescent and then a teenager. And some people think there might be other stages like preadolescent and preteen. In essence he will have outgrown his parents and ready for independence. Oh well, I still have ten years.