Lying on the boys' floor tonight for our last moments of cuddling before bed, I hold the two of them close on either side of me and half-tease them, begging in an exaggerated manner for them to always be three and six years old. "Please, please," I cajole, "You're so perfectly funny and adorable right now that you really don't need to get any older, do you?"
Baxter, knowing that it's supposed to be funny but taking my words a little too seriously as is his wont, says cautiously, "I really don't think I can stop having birthdays, Mommy..."
"Okay, okay, fine, " I say, realizing that this game is a bit unfair to them, "Listen, the truth is, I have wanted to freeze you at every one of your ages because I loved you so much - but then I learned that you would grow to be even more fun and adorable every year and I loved you even more! So I guess it's okay."
"Even when I'm 7 or 8?" Baxter asks. "Even when I'm a d'Cade?" (This is how he says "decade".)
"Oh, yes," I assure him, talking into his sun-bleached blonde hair, "especially when you're a decade old."
And then, knowing what his real fear of getting older is, I add, "And I will still cuddle with you when you're a decade old, too."
He turned to look at me. "You'd better," he warned, grinning, "or I'm gonna sue!"
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9 comments:
Awesome! Baxter Gordon, Att'y at Law. I can just imagine his late-night infomercials: "Injured in a playground accident? Parents won't let you stay up late reading? Mom hassling you about the playroom? Call me. No fees until I win your case."
"I'm gonna sue"?!?!? Where did that come from...Too funny. :)
First a spy notebook, and now this? I think Baxter and I are kindred spirits!
Yes, Becky, if there is anything else in your career past, do let us know what we can expect Baxter to be interested in!
Kristen, I know just where it came from. We had a looong chat on Sunday because someone says "I'm going to sue you" apparently in the movie CARS (everything comes back to the movie CARS in our house right now!). So I explained a bit about what that meant and he wanted to know as many things people "sued" over as I could think of - he got a crash course in special ed law, of course. ;-)
Anyway, then I got on my soapbox and told him about the American penchant for suing each other over any little thing and how ridiculous it is - so I think he was making a joke when he said that.
He's clever and funny, just like his momma! When is someone going to invent that freeze-time machine already?
It is a real comfort to me when parents of children older than mine (mine are 1 and 3, for any readers who don't know) state that their kids just get better and better as they get older. Because very often I don't actually tease and laugh about wanting my girls to not get any older, I actually sniffle and tear up about it. I'm SERIOUS when I say things like that! I can hardly stand the fact that my baby is 1 year old, as anyone who knows me is aware, and it kills me that, well, these days just keep going by! (Amazing how that works!) I am going to hold you to everything you said, Jordan.
OMG they are so stinkin' precious! :-D
Hi Shannon - I do think there's a happy medium that exists between entirely missing these years because a parent is "checked out" for one reason or another, and the other extreme: being so present that you almost miss these years because you're so worried about them going away that at times it's hard to enjoy them. You know?
I was worried about these elementary school years at first because I didn't know what to expect - most of my experience had been with younger kids and I knew I loved *those* years so I assumed nothing could be as great. But it's simply not true - your children change and grow and so does your love for them, but it's not a bad thing by any means. I think we do them a disservice by wishing for them to freeze because, in a way, it sends them the message that they won't be as wonderful or as loved when they grow older.
And believe me, they will!
I just can't help it--I simply love me some cuddly, chubby babies!
(Clarification: I don't actually say any of those weepy thoughts about wishing my girls could stay babies forever out loud to them. Not that Genevieve would care. She'd probably screech at me, babble something incoherent, laugh, and toddle away toward the next available hazard.)
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