I'll Miss My Grocery Cart Passenger

I see it coming, but I don't want it to happen.

DuckyBoy is getting almost too big to fit into the seat of the grocery cart ... and almost too big for me to lift him in.

I know, I got longer than many people -- he's 6-and-a-half, for Pete's sake -- but I love that we can be eye-to-eye and talk while we get the groceries. It's not going to be nearly as fun for him to have to walk around the store. And he can't comfortably sit and snack, which buys me some shopping time without having to be talking with him.

He's at the same stage with the hard bucket swings at the playgrounds. A couple of months ago when we had a warm spell, I stuffed him and several of his friends into the bucket swings on the school playground, much to the chagrin of the other moms and babysitters who had to extricate their first- (and one second-) grader. (I would have done it, I swear! I have a trick! They just have to push off of your leg!)

DB and I can still make it work, but the writing is on the wall. Those long legs, the appetite. I'm delighted he's growing as he should, but still...

I'm going to miss some things about my little guy.

Funny thing is that he's not tall for his age, but for years people meeting him for the first time regularly comment, "Oh, a tall guy, I thought he was [add a couple of years to his age]." I don't know if it's because he's slim, or because he speaks so maturely. One of those ponder-them-in-my-heart things, I guess.