When did I get old?

Thomas turns 3 in 4 days.

Thomas starts preschool in 5 days.

Wow.

It seems like just yesterday that I was holding my newborn son with his fuzzy hair and sweet smell; I've only just started to reconcile myself that those days are long gone - even my second is no longer a newborn, but a full-fledged infant. It's so strange, so disconcerting to realize how fast the time has passed - I want to slow down the clock, maybe turn it back a little, just to watch him grow all over again. It seems like in the course of everyday life childhood sneaked up on us, hiding under the shorter-term babyhood and toddlerhood, waiting to surprise us as soon as we turned around. I love how my boy has grown, how his eyes sparkle, his grin stretches from ear to ear, his hair grows faster than I can cut it. He says the funniest things, asks a million questions, discovers more about life each day. His joy in the smallest of everyday things brings meaning into every aspect of life. A lot of days I could go happily insane with his constant questions, but trying to imagine a day without him takes my breath away! I'd love to keep his little arms wrapped around me, his "big, sloppy, wet kisses" covering my cheeks, but he's growing up so fast that soon they'll be big arms, small pecks on the cheek, and one day he'll probably find that he's too old for giving kisses to his mother - that is, until he grows up. How can I be bursting with pride at the person he's becoming and feeling my heart break at the little boy he's leaving behind, all at the same time?
In case I'm too busy to get on here and say it in a couple days, Happy Birthday Thomas. I love you.