Growing up

One night the boys spent the night with my friend, and she had them take baths by themselves, including washing their own hair. I couldn't believe that they did it.

Owen has been bathing himself for a while now, but I was still drawing the water and getting his towel and washcloth and helping him wash his hair. Tyson did NOTHING for himself.

For the past 6 weeks, I've been working on teaching my boys, especially Owen, to be more independent. Now at bath time, I have them get their own towel and washcloth and find their own pajamas. Tyson now washes himself, too, and they both can wash their own hair (but sometimes I still help Tyson). I taught them how to turn off the water without burning themselves (our hot water is really hot, so this is an issue). After they'd mastered that, I taught Owen how to turn the water on without burning himself (this just within the last week and a half or so). This week they've been taking their baths from start to finish without me. I know that it's a good thing that they are able to do these things for themselves, and it really helped out when I left them overnight with Owen twice last week while I went off gallivanting. It's nice that I can tell them to go take a bath and they can come back all clean and dressed for bed without me ever lifting a finger.

But I miss that time with them. They're growing up.

Those of you with young little ones, especially those of you that have 2 in diapers, I know that these days sometimes seem to drag on and on. All you can see is one dirty diaper after another and one meal preparation after another and feeding and baths and dressing and brushing teeth and the list goes on and on and on and it seems like you will be doing this for the rest of your life! Don't wish away these times. Look for the memories that you will cherish. My mom always says, "Write it down!" Then one day, you will turn around and you will realize that your children don't need you as much as they once did...at least physically speaking. You'll realize that there's a lot more to being a mom than that aforementioned list. You'll begin to see them as children and not as babies.

That's where I am. Until August, I'll be a mother of a preschooler, but that time in my life is almost over. I'm looking back at the last 6 years, and even though I've stayed at home with my children for 5 of the 6 of them, I still wonder where the time went.