Where Did My Baby Go?

Well, Elijah just had his 9 month check-up last week, and I realized two things while I was there. One, watching him get shots hasn't gotten any easier for either of us; and two, he's not the little baby I once knew.
There's something about sitting in the exam room waiting for the doctor to come in that makes me nostalgic. It's probably just the fact that you have to sit in a closed up room with not much to do while you and your baby just stare at eachother. He's trying to figure out where we are and why the walls are bright orange and you're trying to figure out just exactly why it takes so long for the doctor to come in. Either way, I find myself just watching Elijah and remembering what he was like the last time we were in this office. Last time I didn't have to make sure he didn't crawl off the examining table, last time I was still happily breastfeeding and was proud to tell the nurse that when she asked what kind of formula I used, and last time he wasn't at all interested in the weird circa 1975 wooden toys on the floor.
No, this visit was very different than the last ones. For the last nine months I had just been told to basically keep doing what I was doing. I mean, we added solid foods at around 5 months and had to start him on formula at around 6 months, but now I was being told something all-together different: that basically he is growing up. He has two new teeth that he was somehow keeping hidden from me until the doctor pointed them out, he has mastered crawling and is now trying to master standing and walking, and the real sign that he's growing up: I have to start weaning him off of the bottle. I never thought I would even care about that, but when the doctor told me that, it was like I saw the rest of Elijah's life flash before me; I all of a sudden realized how fast this was all going. No more bottle? Next thing I know he'll be going off to college! It sounds so melodramatic, but it's true.
While everyone else sees a cute little baby, I see a cute young boy who is already growing up too fast. So, on the advice of a couple of aunts who have recently graduating babies, I'm taking every opportunity that Elijah will allow me to sit and cuddle, hug and kiss him and smell his little head of hair.