Looking up

This post has been rolling around in my mind for a while, maybe a month or so. Actually writing it out is a little strange, much like letting go of an era, or the changing of a season. So I am just going to rip the bandage off and say it- my kids have gotten older.

Now, obviously, this isn't a surprise to anyone. Time passes and people age. But last month, after a crazy semester of non stop classes that followed a summer of a full-time schedule of class, and a family vacation that was packed with...vacationing, I really had time to look up. And what I mean is more than physically looking up, since I don't constantly run into things, it is safe to say that I am always looking up, but I really took note of where my kids are in life currently. And it made me a little sad. Because I don't have little babies any more. Or even toddlers. Actually, I don't even have one toddler. I have a solid 5 year old and a 7, almost 8 year old. It was like coming out of the woods and into a clearing.

Both of my children pretty basically self regulate at this point. I can have solid, life conversations with them. I realize they are by NO means all grown up. I think the big change is that I seem to be surrounded by people with smaller children who are still in the thick of the proverbial woods, and working through solid behavior issues and generally baby/toddler things. And I am just not there any more.

And it is so freeing! I can take my kids anywhere, and they are legit nice to hang out with. They don't get crazy. We don't take naps (actually, that is something I miss). On the weekends, when I need to run errands, I really want one or both to come along with me so I can hang out with them, because they are fun to talk to individually or together. They have ideas and think about things in ways that I love to hear about. We are no longer in the intense baby/toddler phase. I spent so many years training behaviors and I am really reaping the benefits. They still have things that we are working on, of course, I don't think that ever goes away.

They sleep well, they feed themselves, dress themselves, brush their own teeth. Bishop showers on his own, Cadence only needs help with washing her hair. All these things that keep adding up to a different time. I think that's really what hit me. We are in a different time with our kids. Bishop is reading and Cadence is learning how. They do things on their own that they enjoy without any input from me. I love watching them grow up and find new things and create and imagine, and it is still a little surreal at this point. There are days that I am home alone while they are both at school. It is a new time.

So, for all my friends who are still in the trenches of baby/toddlerhood and feel like there is no end- here we are. All too quickly the days that seem endless pass, and here I find myself with 2 children capable of so many things that I felt would never happen. The weeks of potty training, the years of not sleeping, the many, MANY diapers, and feeding, and washing, and crying babies, and here I am.

It's a new era in our family. A new time. I love where we are, and work daily to enjoy and cherish this time that passes so quickly. Do the same. Where ever you are, whatever stage your child is in, it passes so quickly. So chose to enjoy it. One day you will look up, and they will have changed, and you don't want to miss that.