Monday, January 31, 2011

Growing Up Too Fast

Everyone knows that kids grow up too fast. Well, except maybe the kids who thinks it takes an eternity. As a parent I've really enjoyed Peanut as she's grown up. Oh, don't get me wrong there were lots of times when I would be stressed out so bad that I wanted her to just be 18 already (she was a very strong willed child) but those memories are fading nicely. Hard to believe that she will be 11 in just under two months. Seems like only yesterday I posted here on this blog about her kindergarten days. Getting proposed to, telling me all about penguins and other animals, and when she sat on my Camaro helping daddy fix it were just an example of my favorite memories. This blog is littered with tons of Peanut stories and I'm thankful for each of them. They help me remember that I wasn't always too stressed out to enjoy the moment.

Having Butter at the ripe old age of 29 I've been able to enjoy him more. Perhaps it's because he's an easier child. But I think it's more likely because I'm finally mature enough to be a parent. He makes me laugh. A lot. Yesterday I was making some bread dough and needed to mix the last of the flour in. This required me to mix it myself by hand. So there I stood at the kitchen counter both hands in the dough and Butter comes along and starts tickling my back! There was nothing I could do besides laugh and play along. Which made him laugh. Which made Nickel laugh when he came to see what all the noise was about and encouraged him to "get momma!". At another time in my life I probably would have yelled because I was busy and didn't have time to be tickled. This time I chose to enjoy the moment.

It is now 5 am and I've been up a good half hour. I hate when I wake up so early and can't get back to sleep. Thank goodness for the Internet and Facebook. As I sat here though, in the quiet house, I heard laughter. Laughter at 4:30 in the morning. Not common. Or maybe it is and I just don't know it. The laughter came from Butter who has insisted for the last several month on sleeping on the couch in the living room. The laugh lasted only a moment and then the house returned to it's quiet state, but for that moment, I was really glad I was awake. I wonder if he's dreaming about tickling his momma while her hands are stuck in the bread dough. Oh they grow up too fast.