I no longer have a baby in the house but a full fled toddler- okay he has been a toddler for awhile but the baby gates and crib are gone (it was his toddler bed). I guess when the nearly three year old is telling you he is a big boy and not a baby than it must be true. I am both sad and happy about this milestone that happening.
My hubby still argues that if he is in diapers that he is still babyesque but the moment you say he is a baby, he crosses his arms and says firmly he is not a baby- my son and not my hubby. I was so sad last weekend when I pulled apart the crib and stuck it in storage (I have some plans for converting it into a bench). I thought about how my husband and I put it together over 6 and half years ago, getting it ready for the arrival of our baby girl. It never came down fully, just converted to a toddler bed, back to a crib and than back into the toddler bed.
My kids are growing and constantly changing. I know understand why my parents felt it went so fast because it is going so fast. Each year seems to fly by faster. My birthday is the end of this week and I will be thirty-five. I think about how old my parents seemed to be at that age with a 11 year old and five year old. Now here I am at the same age with even younger kids.
My kids surprise me each and every day with how much they are growing and changing. My son uses new words all the time and his new one is “alright” in the same infliction that his big sister uses. You know when we ask her to do something like pick up her room and she says in a slight snarky tone “alright”. That itself is a milestone, being smart with your parents. As much as it annoys me, I love that she is becoming a person with a personality. Granted one that I might be clashing with here in about six to seven years.
Last week when I talked about finding time for yourself in all this chaos, I know it can be hard because life with the kids is flying by. We want to experience everything with them but we also have to let them fly solo as well in order to grow up. I have to work at understanding my daughter needs more freedom as she grows up and wants to do more for herself. My son is the same way, trying to do things for himself.
Just the other day we were at the park and he was bound and determined to climb the ladder up to the slide. He worked and worked at it, not once asking for help to get himself up. When he was at the top, he was so proud of himself for being able to do it himself. He had another milestone that he wanted to achieve.
For me it is sad but exciting at the same time to see my children grow and achieve new things. I am so impressed as my daughter sits there and reads her books because she struggled with it for awhile. Now I would be one happy momma if someone would learn to go on the potty so I could be done with diapers. Let's hope by the end of the year that happens!
Rebecca Benson is a League City stay at home mom who has lived here since 2003 when her husband took a job on the International Space Station program. She followed soon after working on the same program for nearly six years when she started staying home with the kids. Rebecca loves to craft, scrapbook, sew, and embrace motherhood. Rebecca has a blog called Mommiedom ((http://queenmommiedom.blogspot.com/) where she talks about all the things in her life not just those “confessions”.
