When I say how excited I am to (finally!) see my baby crawl, don’t tell me I’ll soon be wishing he hadn’t started.

When I say how happy I am to see his teeth coming in, don’t tell me I won’t be when he bites me.

When I say how thrilled I am that he’s (finally!) pulling himself up to a somewhat standing position, don’t tell me I’m “in for it”.

When I say how much fun it is to watch my baby grow and develop more every day, don’t tell me how much I’m going to miss him being a baby instead of celebrating his milestones with me.

I’ve made the decision that I am going to enjoy each and every phase of his development and growth to the fullest and find joy in everything. I’m not going to spend his entire childhood looking backwards lamenting about how I wish he was still a baby. I will treasure the memories of his babyhood forever, but I will not let anything prevent me from enjoying the present and looking forward to the future.

He is a complete and utter delight exactly the way he is right now.

And he will continue to be.

So when a new mom gushes about a new development milestone her baby has just reached, don’t rain on her parade. We really don’t like that. Yes, we smile and giggle, but inside it feels like somebody just took a safety pin to our big balloon of happiness. So please don’t be the one holding the safety pin.

Thank you.