Older.

Do you have a favorite age in children? One that you are particularly fond of?

When I lived in Arizona and was starting my life life as a mother, I met a friend. We were the exact same age, both born in September only a few days apart. Our toddler boys were both born in January of the same year, hers on the 11th and mine on the 22nd. When she became pregnant for the second time she called to tell me about the positive result and in turn I admitted my suspicions of being pregnant myself … “come over and take the other test I bought!”  So I did, and of course, I too was pregnant. THEN … we both had little girls on Mondays One. Week. Apart.

The point in this awesome story 😉 is that we could not have been more alike, living a linear life right next door to each other. So you can imagine my SHOCK when she called me up, as we were both home with our newborns, and said … “I am so bored, I can’t wait til this baby grows so we can play and is more interesting.”

WHAT????

The infant baby stage was the time I was holding on to for dear life. The quiet moments holding my bundle of joy, taking in every single detail, inhaling the baby breath as I rocked them to sleep.

We had a good laugh about her hating babies. Of course that was not the case at all, but she was serious about it not being her favorite part of motherhood. I  on the other hand, can safely say it was definitely one of mine. I also loved 18 moths – 2 years old. So many things about that time I adored. I could go on and on …

Now, as I find myself the mother of two KIDS. Bona fide people. Ones with their own thoughts and opinions. I remember this being the stage I was most nervous about. I felt confident with a baby in my arms but hardly with a child looking back at me. It can be quite scary you know!

Of course I love my big kids now.  And as they have grown, so have I. The scary part is not so scary after all. But I do have to find bigger ways to be their mother. It is not all packing lunches and cleaning up grass stained jeans, changing diapers and giving warm baths. Not only do I have to stay a step ahead of their ever-growing intellect but I have to find ways to challenge it as well. And I have to be more clever than floor puzzles and water colors … oh, those were the days. I miss them so.

So over spring break we found some ways to connect. They each got to do some of their favorite things. separately and together. Noah got to do a lot of skateboarding and I did my best to learn the lingo. Gabrielle and I went on our very first REAL mother daughter shopping trip. One that didn’t include me chasing a little monkey around threatening to leave if she didn’t sit still. One where she actually enjoyed the shopping part of it. But my favorite moment, in the nine long days of all eyes on me was this ::

a bike ride to the lake, with a picnic lunch and a game.

Seemed simple enough when I thought of it. Seemed simple on our way there. Seemed simple to be apart of in the moment. But what made it stand out was the intention of time spent. The park is no longer a place to run little ones until they are tired. Or to watch from a few feet in case they fall. Or to chat with other moms for some much-needed adult interaction. When we hit the grassy patch with our food and our blanket the kids just sit there, they look right at me … what’s next?

The bike ride ::

Beautiful eyes on me ::

A sandwichich cheers ::

And a game ::

How do you connect with your kids? And again, what is your favorite age? Has it passed or are you looking forward to it? Or is it right now?

Also, do you put potato chips on your sandwich like me? YUM!

xo

[typography font=”Delius Swash Caps” size=”24″ size_format=”px”]Written By Brittany[/typography]