Stop growing up!

I really need to convince my son to stop growing up.  Stop. it. now.

Peter and I have both been a bit sad at how big Benjamin seems to be, and how much older he's acting.  No more high chairs, he's singing complete songs (and all.the.time), he speaks several sentences at a time, he understands so many new concepts, he's learning to dress himself.  It all needs to stop.

And the real dagger is that he seems to be perfectly okay with being put down for a nap and down for bedtime....without being sung to. 

*GASP*

He tells us he's ready to go to bed, wants us to put him in his crib, give him his animals, tuck him in with his blankets, tell him how much we love him and then turn off the light and say goodnight.  That's it.  No more singing and rocking my sweet baby boy for 10-15 minutes, always ending with his song "You are my Sunshine."  He rarely fell asleep while I rocked him but he always listened and put in "song requests." 

And now he doesn't seem to need that and quite frankly, it makes me kind of want to throw a fit.

Sure, that means that you get an extra 10-15 minutes of downtime in the evening or at naptime that you're not spending trying to get him ready to sleep, but I kind of want those days back.  I want him to tell me he wants me to sing "Jonah" or "Jesus Loves the Little Children" or "Baa baa black sheep, have you any wool, yes sir yes sir three bags full" (and yes, he thinks all of that is the title of the song!)  For the ones he likes he'd say again, again, again. 

It's bittersweet because I absolutely love watching him grow and develop and learn new things.  This week he's been counting backwards....where he gets that who knows.  It's so fun to be his mom and get to be there for all of this.  But part of me wishes I could keep him little forever.  That he'd always need me to sing him to sleep.  I know he may go through phases again where he wants me to sing to him, but for now I'm just feeling a bit nostalgic and remembering my sweet baby boy and feeling amazed at how quickly it does seem to go by.

So Benjamin, please, don't grow up so fast.  The heart in this dear ol' mama of yours just can't take it.  You can stay little for as long as you want.