When you become a parent, developmental milestones in your child’s life are incredibly exciting to witness.
When little Evie rolled over for the first time, John and I were probably "over sharing" to everyone we knew.
But it’s insanely exciting.
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| Evie at around 1 year...one of her first pictures standing |
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| Only 3 years later.... |
I celebrate small victories these days, especially when I notice small leaps of independence within my children. My life is so consumed by all of these little people that even being able to use the bathroom without an audience is something to celebrate.
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| Morning cuddles |
Within the last month or so, I feel like there has been a significant change in herding my children from one location to another by myself.
Small victory #1:
For the past 7 months or so, my mother in law and I have attended Bible study fellowship together and she has helped me unload and walk the kids into their classrooms. A few weeks ago I did it myself, and I was super proud the rest of the day.
Small victory #2:
John was gone on a business trip so I had the kids by myself one afternoon and we actually had a very successful pay date with one of our neighbors and everyone was happy and had a good time playing outside.
Small Victory # 3
Usually when I go to the gym by myself I pull the van up to the door of the building and unload the kids one by one. However, I now simply explain to them that they need to walk down the ramp and to the van immediately…and they do.
It's hard to imagine how big and exciting these seemingly little milestones are in my life.
Little by little my little people are listening to me, talking to me and I’m sorta kinda reasoning with them.
My boys are such good boys. They want to be good boys, and they want to do what is right and they love and obey their mama. They always remind me, "I'm a good boy."
They have such big hearts.
Levi gets so excited when Evie gets home from school that he gives her a big kiss on the lips.
I can really see the silver lining. The kids are playing in the backyard together, laughing, sorta enjoying each other. Right now the boys love to play “hockey” with my kitchen utensils. It is a common ritual that after nap time one of them hands out the “hockey sticks” (aka my kitchen spatula/spoons) and they hit a ball around the floor with them.
Yes, they fight over who gets to sit in the coveted back seat of the van.
They negotiate bedtime and mealtime.
They request cheeseburgers and the music played in the car.
They demand that they wear a certain color shirt and use a certain type of soap.
But, aghast, I love that they are growing up and have opinions and want to communicate.
Walking in Target near the baby section, I was suddenly overcome by the sudden realization that I don’t and will never have babies anymore. Memories started flooding back about my days buying baby things for Evie… And formula for the boys…and clothes sized according to months.
This summer already has a remarkably different feel. Amanda and I are taking the boys out, they are playing on playgrounds, digging in the sand, and chasing each other in the woods. They want to eat outside, poke at worms and bounce the basketball.
They are joyful. They are curious. They are excited about everything.
The other night Levi reached up on his tip toes to turn out the light. He could reach it.
Memories started flooding back to me about Evie, at that same light, doing that same thing. I remember the milestone of her reaching that light switch…that milestone of her climbing the deck stairs by herself…that milestone of opening the doors. It’s hard to believe that she was that little still when we moved into this house.
But here we are.
We are experiencing the same milestones, and the same excitement with the boys now.
And each one I consider a victory and a celebration.
Yes, honestly there is that little nostalgic feeling I was warned about. But I have no desire to go back, and I feel mostly gratitude about how far we’ve come and what we’ve achieved.
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