What I Hope I Remember….

We are in the midst of the T’s here in the Smith household. We are in the tantruming twos and the teething tinies.

I won’t call them the terrible twos. Because it really isn’t terrible. In fact, up until not too long ago, I didn’t know what all the talk was about. Elias hardly ever tantrumed. This week, however, we have not yet had a tantrum-free day. So I have to ask myself is it me? Is it him? Is there a full moon?

Needless to say…it’s been a rough week. I love being a Mommy and I love staying home with my boys, but some days I just want to curl up and cry and the end of them. So instead of doing that…(because it really wasn’t that much of a joke)…I’m going to look back on the day and think about what I hope I remember. So that some day when I’m looking at a young mother who is complaining about tantrums and teething, I can say, “Yeah I remember that, but it was such a minor part of our lives together.”

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The sun streams through the cracks in the blinds and I lay in bed looking at my almost six month old. How can half a year have gone by already? He smiles at me with that twinkle in his eye, and shows off the pearly whites just under the surface of his gums.

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I hear my two year old rustling around in his bedroom, and go in to get him. He is sitting in his rocking chair in the dark. I bring him out into the kitchen where he promptly hugs his daddy…arms circled tight around the neck…and sends him off to work with some love.

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We are in the car driving to Ama and Baba’s. The two year old is in the back shouting “We’re going downhill! Wheeeeeeee!” Then he recognizes where we are and excitedly says “We’re almost there! I’ll find it! Don’t worry, Mommy. There’s Ama and Baba’s right there!”

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I am at the park chatting with a Mommy friend. We push our babies in the swings and they look around them, taking it all in. We compare notes and share stories. The babes are done swinging and we set them in the bark chips. They dig in to the new texture. We smile as they babble back and forth. I am not alone.

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The baby fell asleep in the car, so we get him inside and put him in the other room for some quiet rest. Elias chooses some books for me to read to him before quiet time. The stack is large. I am so thankful he loves reading.

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The baby wakes up screaming. Nothing will calm him….not even my offer of milk (a first). I dance and sing and rub his back. I try everything I can think of, and after 20 minutes or so of failing I go in to check on the two year old and let him out of quiet time. As he talks and plays the baby looks at him in wonder as always and stops crying. Then I quickly stick a chilled teether in his hands. He promptly shoves it in his mouth and chews contentedly while watching his brother.

The teether working its magic.

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Daddy will be home late today so we eat dinner without him. Elias insists on keeping a placemat for him at the table anyway. We think of him in our prayers. Elias cleans his plate, and with the last strawberry says, “MMMMMM, juicy sweet!.”

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Daddy is home and we are playing bat and ball outside. Elias whacks a ball off the tee, and says, “Oh! I’m so proud of me!”

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We come back inside for a bit of cool down before bed. Elias is so sweaty from the heat. I brush my fingers through his hair and it sticks straight up. I take the opportunity to get some silly pictures. We make faces for the camera and take turns pressing the button. I turn and capture a picture of Daddy and Simon in matching computer nerd t-shirts. This is the life.