Prayers

Feb 16, 2014

Things I Had Forgotten....

When I was 32 years old, I had an 8 year old boy, a 5 year old girl, and a new set of twin boys.  I adjusted.  You keep adjusting.  Funny how quickly you can forget some things.

This last week has brought back many things to me that I had forgotten.

    How wonderful to pick a baby up in the morning and have her point to the sky with one arm wrapped around my neck and make her little morning noises.


   How old clothes can be magical outfit with the imagination of a small child.

                                               
   How sometimes you get a God wink in a sack of potatoes.

    How hard it is to find something heavy enough to keep the top of a tent anchored, but not heavy enough to hurt you if it falls.


                          How jealous siblings can get.  Yowsa.

What it's like to be wearing a black turtleneck in a public place, see the baby focus on your neck/shoulder area, very carefully pick off a piece of goldfish, eat it, and realize you have been walking around for at least an hour with half eaten food stuck to your clothes.  No one said a word.  But then I hang with older folk.  Perhaps they didn't see it.........

   How getting up early and staying up late are more profound when you have little ones, who depend on you for their very lives, safely sleeping peacefully in their beds.

   How precious it is to have 20 minutes to yourself.

  How you can do anything when little ones depend on you, even if that means digging your car out of a snow drift with nothing but an ice scraper and a lot of gas.  "You're making the snow FLY!" said Abigail.  I think she was impressed with my skillz.  lol  Some day I will take her mudding, so she can learn to really drive.

   How good Popsicle are!  Dang!  Life is too short not to have them, really.

    How heavy diaper bags are!

   How hard it is to remember everything that goes in the diaper bag.

   How amazing a perfume atomizer is--even without perfume.

   How dirty diapers often smell like the last thing the baby ate.  Ugh.

   How much I hate car seats.

  How precious life is and how quickly a catastrophe can happen if you don't remember to keep the house safe at all times.  

  How exciting it can be just to get out of the house for a few minutes when you have been trapped in there for 3 days.


    How special it makes you feel it is to see a baby recognize you and smile all over themselves.

  How long I can snort into a child's neck making them laugh from their belly.   Looong time. :D  They always get tired of it before I do.

   How annoying it is when your bath water gets cold and how little it costs to warm it up so you can get the baby in bed before you get the 5 year old out of the tub.

  How much water does not stay in the tub when 5 year old's take baths unsupervised for even 3 minutes.

   How hard it is to get little shoes on little feet without the seam of the sock "hurting".

    How important it is to look at someone when you are listening to them.

    How much your back hurts when you have to get out of bed, again, and all you want to do is sleep.

   How easy it is to feed little ones with eggs, milk and fruit.

   How nice it is to see you practically grown and normally completely self absorbed teenage boys stop to listen to a made up story by a little girl, and take it seriously.

   How hard it is to say you miss your mom when you don't want to hurt your Mimi's feelings, and how little girls will often orchestrate situations just so they can cry for awhile.

    How fast time passes, and how everything you do counts, one way or the other.

   How much fun flash lights can be.

   How hard it is to clip baby fingernails.  ARG!

   How much more fun it is to do laundry when it's full of polka dotted leggings and footie pajamas.

  The agony of brushing out long hair.

How easy it is to let dishes set to do more important things.

   How good it feels to get a break of a few hours.  I think that might be the best thing about being a grandparent: the happiness to see them come; the happiness to see them go.

   How diplomatic and sensitive young children can be.
Me: Abigail, do you remember (so-and-so)"
Abigail: Is she wrinkly?
Me: uh.................(realizing that what she is to polite to say is "how old is she?  Is she my age or is she your age (wrinkly)".
I swear to God I had to answer this at least 5 times, more cautiously each time.

  It's easy to forget.  Sometimes we all need reminding, and there are so many parents who need the break even if only for a few hours.  Look around, see what you can do.  You might be surprised how precious what you get back can be.

I wouldn't have missed it for the world.  I am forever in the debt of my Bonus Daughter for these wonderful days and nights of remembering, practicing and pretending.  I never plan to stop, and it will keep on going long after I'm gone.  I'm making sure of it.