Just a phase...

Asher walking Charlotte to the park

Boys having snack at the park

Benjamin walking Charlotte home from the park

This idea can bring me comfort, or fill me with fear.  Right now, we are in a really great phase.  I find myself enjoying the kids everyday, and taking great joy in the sweet and funny things that they say and do.  They are being great with each other- playing well, taking care of each other.  Charlotte insists on going to both boys for hugs and kisses before bed, saying "I say na-night my brothers!" The boys have been doing a lot of coloring and artwork, so instead of too much TV (which happens), they will often sit themselves down at their little table and color quietly.  They are eating well and mealtimes are less of a fight.  The boys are going to bed quietly and quickly at night and sleeping through till their alarm clock turns green.

"Hello, baby squirrels! Hello, baby birds!"

So while I use the phrase, "it's just a phase" to get me through all the phases I can barely tolerate (lying on the floor in front of the bedroom door and screaming while kicking the door rather than going to sleep in bed; waiting till after he's started pooping to tell me he needs to poop; taking off her pajamas at bedtime every night and sometimes her diaper too...), I hate to think that this easy rhythm is time-limited as well.  Once again, I'd like to freeze time and keep everything just the way it is.  Maybe just a while longer.

With the boys' 5th birthday looming, I'm going back into my overly-sentimental mommy mindset.  Remember when they were curled up tight in my belly?  Remember when they were itty bitty babies with skinny chicken legs?  Remember that time that I sat on the couch with a crying baby on each side of me, crying myself because I didn't know how to help them? Remember our first, hot summer, walking the hills of the neighborhood because it kept both boys content?  Where did the time go?  The phases we've been through- they all feel so conquerable compared to what is ahead.  The needs of babies seem so simple compared to things like the social ins-and-outs of kindergarten and managing schedules of multiple extra-curricular activities.

Will the day come where I don't look at them with wonder and awe, and marvel at who they are?  On the one hand, I hope not.  On the other, it makes me feel a little squeamish to think that my parents would still think of me that way!  In the meantime, I'm making sure to take several moments each day to capture them as they are in my mind, because I know this won't last forever.