What I’ll Miss

I have this parenting app on my phone. Shocking, right? I honestly don’t remember what it is called, but basically it sends me a text message once a week asking me a question about one of my three children. Usually, it’s simple things: Does Semmes sleep with a night-light? Does Cooper like to dance? Things like that. This week, the question was, “What is one thing you will miss about Katherine Cobb in a year?”

Katherine Cobb is my youngest. She’s 15 months old and my last baby. I feel like I spend a lot of time attempting (and failing) to memorize everything about her. So this seems an impossible question. But I’m going to take a stab at answering anyway. 

In a year, when Katherine Cobb is a few months past two, here are some things I will miss:

• her zombie-like straight-legged walk
• the fact that at any meal where she is offered meat, she will eat it first
• that the only parts of her body she knows are forehead, bellybutton, and teeth…which is hilarious
• the words she says are mama, dada, bubba (brother), shoe, and cheese, but she’s trying SO HARD to say more
• her ten teeth (which I’m pretty sure is a lot)
• when she’s finished eating, she just starts tossing whatever food is left on her plate (the dog loves her at mealtimes)
• when she literally squeals with delight every time one of us comes home
• when she gets dressed, she yells “shoe!” at you until you put a pair of shoes on her, then she points at her bows and grunts until you put one in her hair…the girl’s got style
• her tiny feet
• how she follows the dog around holding a board book until the dog lays down, then she sits back against her and “reads” her book.
• how she waves at everyone in the grocery store 
• when you say, “I’m going to put you down now,” she just grabs you tighter
• her open mouthed kisses

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Eventually, I know, my memory of all this will fade. And I will be left with only the big memories (and the ones that pop up in my Timehop). I’ll forget that she used to dance on command. But maybe she’ll be in a dance class. I’ll forget that she is shy when she first meets a person. But maybe that means she will be a good judge of character later.

I also try to remember that as I go forward, as I forget, I will also form new memories. She’ll grow and change, but it’s ok. She’s supposed to. And I’ll continue to find new things to love about her, new things that I feel are worth remembering. Now, I just have to remember to put it on Facebook so I can be reminded about it every year…