MODERN MUM: Time flies when you have kids, they grow up so fast

He would always say, “These moments are fleeting. They will be gone very soon and all you will think about is how fast it all went by. Just enjoy it now!”

In the midst of my frustrations and exhaustion, the end of the troublesome years of running after a toddler and dealing with their tantrums seemed far away.

Even as I was pregnant with my second, everyone kept telling me how my first looks so grown up. They would always remark at how tall he was or how he looks much older than his actual age. I still didn't see it. I mean, I could see my three-year-old, he was tall, he was growing day by day, but my mummy eyes only saw him as my baby.

I even remember how other mums online advised to hold your toddler tightly before giving birth to your new child because when you see them next, they will look much older. I hugged my son tightly before I walked into the hospital to give birth to my second child. Spoiler alert… When I saw him later that afternoon, he looked the same. Still my baby.

A week ago, a couple of days before my firstborn turned four, I saw it. Late at night, my oldest cried and I walked into his room to comfort him. He has a bed with a tent canopy on it. As I pulled the canopy back to look at my sleeping child, my heart stopped! Who was this big child with a big boy head and grown boy limbs? Surely, that couldn't be my baby. My baby was cute, with a small bumpy head and small gappy teeth. I didn't recognise this grown boy sleeping in my toddler's bed!

Alas, his birthday came and went and I was forced to make peace with the fact that I no longer have a toddler. My firstborn is grown and with every passing minute I give to my infant, I look up to find that I have missed yet another minute of my oldest son getting older. That one day, I will look up and find a whole grown primary school kid standing in front of me.

I have already given my husband the warning. The day our son goes to the first day of primary school, I will cry my heart out. Not because I am upset but I will be mourning the phase that is so sweet yet so fleeting. The phase of seeing my child as my baby. Even though he is tall and a little grown, I can still hold and cuddle my son as much as I want.