For a year, a gallon of “Nursery Water” has taken up valuable space in our refrigerator. Not the same gallon, but a succession of gallons. Our daughter-in-law, Cobb, brought them to us, as needed, so we could use them to make bottles of baby formula in emergencies when Nick stays with us every Thursday and for other, occasional visits. Nick has had such a hearty appetite that he often liked an extra bottle beyond the daily RDA his parents pack for him. We have had opportunity to use the Nursery Water frequently.

One day, reading the label to see what makes Nursery Water more worthy than Oxford tap water (filtered), I saw that Nursery Water is essentially distilled water, with minerals added back in ‘for taste.’ I decided to sample a glass.  Nursery Water tastes great! I liked it so well, I finished off the rest of a gallon one day after Nick went home. I felt slightly guilty about that, and added Nursery Water to my grocery list.

So. Nursery Water is good stuff. But that big gallon takes up space in the fridge. I’ve had to move it around, bringing it forward on Thursdays (for the almost certain emergency formula making) and then finding a place for it on other days where it wouldn’t get in the way of the things we normally use. It’s been something of a nuisance, that gallon of Nursery Water.

Until last week. Last week, Nick graduated to drinking whole milk.  We don’t have to mix formula anymore.  He doesn’t always finish his bottle though.  And he’s not so keen to sit on my lap when he drinks it.  He likes being independent, walking around things, exploring. He is learning to build blocks. He enjoys reading books from his cardboard library, turning the pages and saying “Ohhh” at each new picture. He likes singing and accompanying himself on the piano (Gramas have innate appreciation for this particular music genre).  He doesn’t take a lot of time to eat these days, although his best word, after Mama, Dada, and Rett, is still “snack.” But no more formula. No more baby. Nick is growing up.

I drank the last of the Nursery Water last weekend and recycled the empty gallon jug, admired all the wonderful, useful, unaccustomed open space now available in the refrigerator that I have coveted and thought I missed for the last year. And I cried.