I never realize until I have reason to compare.

A dear friend of mine pointed me in the direction of a lovely message board for cloth diapering mommies. Well, this message board is like perfect for me because they have subsections for every single one of my favorite parenting topics, and the place is just crawling with mommies who think similarly to me on these things, or at least understand where those of us who do think this way are coming from. It's nice to be in the majority for once, and to be able to tell honestly what works for me without being lambasted for doing things differently than mainstream society.

Well, there was a car seat picture thread on that board, and I like car seat picture threads when they are of correct use. Believe it or not, it helps me learn about car seats, what kinds are good for what ages of kids, what 3-across combinations work in what vehicles, and just generally what's out there. I also like to see how long other people have been able to rear-face in the seats I own, and how comfortable or uncomfortable the kids look in those seats. Basically, I like seeing other people doing it right. It makes me feel good, and reminds me that there are lots of smart parents in this world, and that at least in that venue, we outnumber the idiots a million to one.

The only weird thing about these car seat picture threads is that they remind me just how big Orren is. I always forget that he's huge for his age. He's my son. I spend every single day with him, all day long. Yeah, he's growing a lot, and is actually getting rather difficult to pick up (especially if he's not cooperating!) but I still don't think of him as enormous for his age. He's just my son, my baby boy. Seeing other kids in their car seats, with their heights and weights listed, just reminds me that my boy is growing so fast. I saw one pic of a little boy in the exact same car seat as Orren has, a red Radian XTSL, and he was just slightly smaller than Orren. I looked at his height and weight, and sure enough, he was only three pounds smaller than Orren, and an inch shorter. Then I looked at his age. 3 years. Holy shit.

I continued scrolling through the pages, looking at the other happy kids in their awesome car seats, and every single kid I found who was anywhere near Orren's size was more than a year older than him.

I love having a big strong son. I think it's great! (Is it funny that his name means Pine Tree, and he's so tall? I think it is.) It just takes having something to compare him to before I ever really see how big he is.