The Ozmerican Life

I have gotten quite accustomed to having babies around my house. I feel like I have always had one around and I don't know any different. But life is slowly starting to remind me that my little ones are growing up. I won't always have a baby around. What a concept! As my little Keira is growing up, it starts to hit home more and more that she's not going to stop growing. Every week there will probably be one more outfit that she's outgrown. I have already had to dig into the 3-6 month bin of clothes!!! AAAAHHHH Make it stop!!!! I just feel like having a baby is what I should be doing. It's what I'm used to.

It's so obvious with Keira...but also with Quaid. As he nears 5 years old...it's very apparent in his actions that he is not a little toddler anymore, that he has progressed into a strange age. It's not toddler, it's not "big kid"...but what is it?? He's so mature in some areas, but others not at all....and even those areas where he has impressed me, there is still 100% chance for a slip back into toddler mode. He does not miss a single thing that I say, or a single thing I do, or a single thing that goes on in this house. He has become my little helper who is so desperately trying to pull away from his other siblings and define himself as above them. The other day I told him that I had to do laundry, "Yeah! I love laundry!" He grabbed the basket and started to drag it upstairs, put away all his clothes. After that it was time to clean up the kitchen, "I can sweep mom, I can do that!" So there he goes, gets out the broom, sweeps all around the table, moved the chairs like I do...made one pile of dirt like I do, put the chairs back like I do. "See Ava, I can sweep because I'm a big kid." Yes my little man, you indeed can do all those things! He has learned from watching me do it every day for his whole life. I always knew that kids are always watching....but as Quaid is getting older and Ava for that matter they are more than watching the action. They are grasping the mood, attitude, and feelings behind anything we say or do. That makes my day to day life all the more in the spotlight.

It's so amazing what happens in two short years. I look at Jentzen who is 2 years younger and Quaid. There's no comparison! They go from mostly dependent to independent. What a bizarre thing. I always thought I would be jumping for joy to have all my kids beyond the baby toddler stage...but now I'm not so sure. It's not that they don't need me anymore because they always will, but it's just needing in a different way. A part of parenting that I am just starting to come into. Ready or not, it's here. I don't know if one's harder than the other...just different. I am determined to make the most of every age and stage of life.

When Quaid started to fully grasp the notion of a baby that was smaller than him...he used to say, "When I get smaller like Jentzen I will be able to do that." He didn't quite realize that he never again would be smaller, he would never go back to baby. And sadly enough that was true...he will never go back. But there are still moments that Quaid steps back a few years being silly. I think he knows that mom and dad need it! After all...one of Ava's little purses makes a great hat, doesn't it???