The Last Onesie

As some busy Moms do, I don't waste my time folding the kids' clothes before putting them in the drawer, fresh from the weekly laundry. Why? Because inevitably, the times that I have taken 5 to fold said clothes are the times I turn right around and find Maddy with brother's underpants on her head... amidst a frenzy of once freshly-folded, now strewn about jammies, shirts and pants. 

And the last onesie.

I came across the last onesie in Jimmy's dresser after the above scenario played out last laundry day. The last onesie. Size 24 months. Orange. "Daddy's Champ". 

The. Very. Last. Onesie. I get a tug in my heart just thinking about it.

He is now 34 months. 

Prescribing to my Ma's old adage: "Don't look at the size, just try it on!" I stretched and pulled and yanked the last onesie down my almost 3-year-old's long, skinny torso and struggled to connect the last of the snaps. It was too small. My boy was too big for the last onesie. He looked ridiculous. I knew it. He knew it. But it was the last onesie he would ever be in. I had to savor the moment. He let me.

For five minutes, I watched him run, jump, play, sing, dance, somersault, flop on the couch and gallop about the house in the last onesie. I know my boy has grown, but nothing has made the leap of time and space more palpable than seeing him wearing the last onesie.

Stop it, Jimmy. Stop growing up so fast. 

Ping!  There goes a snap. And just like that, I realized it was time to move the last onesie to the Salvation Army donation pile. * Life can be so bittersweet sometimes.

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*Okay, okay... truth be told... in the middle of this scene, big Jim came home and saw his boy in the last onesie and said, "Hon, he has a wedgie"... 

It was just a little wedgie.

See? Sometimes taking the time to fold the laundry can be harmful to your health, to your heart, or even to your little bum. 

Savor each and every moment... it goes by in a snap.