Cheerios and Growing Up

I know that my kids are getting bigger, of course.  That's what kids do, after all.  But I think I lose track of how much they're growing and how fast they're doing it.
Yesterday I watched some kids for a friend, and there was a little girl who was two and a half.  She found a stool that she could carry, and used it to follow me around the kitchen, watching everything I did and being right in the way if possible.  Between me and the bread I was kneading would be a perfect spot, for example.  All of my kids have done this, but when that little girl did it, I suddenly realized that Annie hadn't done that in a while.  In fact, it's probably been more than a year since she did that.  How did I not notice?
What Annie does now is to steal my phone and take pictures.  Selfies are best, of course, but anything that she considers noteworthy should also be caught on camera. 

 Sunday morning, after she had finished taking selfies while I did her hair, she decided that the shape her Cheerios made on the spoon was the coolest thing ever, and deserved a picture. 

 

That went so well, that she included a picture of the Cheerios in her bowl.  I'm not sure what it was that made the Cheerios in her bowl significant - something about them being on the side instead of in the milk. Whatever it was, it is now recorded for posterity.

 

It makes me sad to realize that my kids are getting bigger, and even more sad to think that I'm missing it, somehow.  I imagine every mother has these moments, though, and I wouldn't really want them to stay babies forever.  It's fun to see the new things that they're learning and the people that they're becoming.  But it's also important to stop and enjoy the moments that I have with them.  And maybe it's also important to marvel over the small things, like the Cheerios in my bowl.