The Swing

Oh, wow!  We're making good use of the swing again.  It's a "My Little Lamb" baby swing....great for getting a sleepy baby to actually go to sleep during the day.  We're careful to not overuse it, but we do use it.....Especially with our first....she LOVED being in her swing.

So now, I look at the swing....it had collected just a little dust since Katie-Pie's last time in it...but not so much that we couldn't easily clean it up with a Lysol wipe or two.  When Matt brought it down, shortly before Ems was born, I cried.  Not that I wasn't thrilled to be using it again, but because I remembered the last time I had put Sunshine in it for a nap.

She had finally dozed off in my arms, and I wanted to get some dinner started.  I eased off of the sofa and made my way over to the swing with my sleeping darling in my arms.  I could feel how much she had grown since her first time in the swing, and it made  my heart heavy.  My little baby wasn't so little anymore.  She barely fit in it in the beginning.....and now, as I gently placed her in the swing and buckled the seat belt, I could see her little legs practically dangling over the edge, and her arms waving over the sides.  She was still little, but not as tiny as she had been that first time.

I turned the swing on, and started the music....tears began to stream down my face as I knew that it was the last time she would be in it....I left her in the swing for a long time that day.  It was part of her infancy that I didn't want to give up.  She looked so fragile, and it was as if the swing and I were a team that could protect her from growing up.  I played the music over and over...watched the mobile dance above her in celebration of her life...it's own need to entertain the sleeping darling evident to anyone who watched.

I sat and stared at her, swaying gently, sleeping peacefully....and I just knew....this would be the last time that I would watch her slumber in the swing.....and it broke my heart.  She was growing up.  I love to watch her grow...she's doing exactly what she's supposed to be doing.....but it doesn't mean that it's easy for the parents...it's actually pretty rough for the parents.....but I still love it.

When naptime was over, I stopped the swing and turned off the music for the last time....I didn't know if we'd ever use the swing again, but I wanted the swing to know that I appreciated everything that it had done for my family...calmed a restless baby so that mommy could go to the bathroom, read the paper, clip a coupon or two....but not too much...she still preferred to be rocked in my arms, held next to my heart, sharing her warmth with me.

I patted the swing, thanked it, and moved it out of the way....it was time to make room for the next phase of Sugar Doodle's naptime life......which happened to be my arms, or Matt's arms, or the arms of any of the multitude of people who love her.  And that's the beauty of the changing of the seasons....while I was saddened by the passing of the swing, I was happy that I didn't have to share her naps with the swing any longer.

Cupcake's first time in the swing.