Times goes so quickly

My oldest stepson turned 18 last week.

Let's ignore the intense inconvenience of hosting an 18th birthday party at your house two days before you also hosted the extended family Christmas (and the intense worry that the whole thing would end up on Facebook and our house would be trashed by two thousand drunk teenagers).

The most distressing thing was how quickly that thoughtful, opinionated, self contained little boy turned into a man! It is amazing.

It honestly seems like yesterday that he was super keen on water slides, Harry Potter, soft drink (some things don't change that much) and endlessly wanted to help my husband use tools to fix things.

My Mum keeps telling me that when you have kids each day passes agonisingly slowly but the years rush past. It's true, and the worst thing is that both of those things are bad - bedtime generally can't come fast enough but I want to savour my children's childhood, not wish it away.

I first met my stepsons in what my Mum would call 'the best years of having children'. That time when kids are at primary school, are fairly independent, don't give you much attitude, sleep through the night, and you can do lots and lots of fun things with them.

It was kind of a golden time - we had brilliant holidays, baked together, planted a veggie garden and spent the weekends doing all the fun things that Sydney has to offer kids (which is LOTS).

And now, all of a sudden, he's a grown-up.

I think in this case the journey to adulthood has happened faster because he has always been very grown-up in how he interacts with people, plus he left school a year ago and got a job which means he has made that transition maturity and understanding of the 'real world' much faster than many of his peers. He doesn't even live at our house any more.

It's sad, but from the ashes of the little boy (and with the complete knowledge that I am about to sound like I am about a billion years old) has risen a pretty amazing person who is wonderful with his smallest brother and sister, surprisingly responsible, reliable and thoughtful for an 18 year old, works hard and is great company.

And when I get sad about the water slides I can at least console myself that I am bound to see him flying down one again soon ... with his little brother on his knee!