03/13/2024
I really hope my daughter, Natalee Grace writes a book someday. Her elementary school teacher re-posted this today. Thanks Lynn Hasling Pellerin I just had to share!
Please read. This was posted a while back by a tired, young mother, and it's worth repeating to other tired mommies. It choked me up, thinking how many times I might have missed it with our three boys.
Listen. You don't get a second chance with this.
"Man, tonight was tough. The kids are adjusting to daycare and they are having longer days than they’re used to. It’s showing at home.
Boy, is it ever. There’s crying, fighting, laying spread out on the floor just miserable, bickering just for the hell of it. It’s enough to wear anyone’s patience thin.
Bedtime is harder than it used to be. They don’t want to go to bed. They want to stay up and play in their house that, up until Monday, was the place they were almost always used to being. They are testing limits and pushing buttons and just being really defiant as they discover new independence and coming across new people and ways to think or act.
Every night this week, Jack has cried after I closed the door until I go back in there and he has some silly excuse of why he just can’t go to bed right now. Actively rubbing their eyes, they’re telling me they’re not tired. Story I’m sure all parents relate to on some level.
Tonight, Jack calls me in his room crying because there’s a toy in his bed. I said just put it on the floor! You have to be a little more self-sufficient, bud. This is a problem you can solve. I was annoyed that I needed to tell him that, to be honest.
I gave him another hug and a kiss and told him I wasn’t going back in there again tonight, so he needed to go to sleep. I closed his door and looked down the hall and BAM.
There are his little shoes by the door.
Shoes that I had, not half an hour ago, instructed him to put there (not exactly there in the middle of the doorway, of course). I looked at these shoes and realized he took my instruction and listened and executed a command.
These little shoes stopped me in my tracks. All these emotions and thoughts hit me at once. I thought to myself, you know, he’s starting to really get the hang of dressing and un******ng himself. Today, he put these very shoes on his feet without help. He is making friends and he’s able to tell me about the day he’s had using examples and descriptive language. Rorey is definitely not afraid to speak up for what he wants.
These shoes suddenly felt way too big to me. They seemed too old, too far removed from where I just was in motherhood. My babies are still just babies, right? Surely they aren’t old enough for this.
Suddenly, I wanted to go back to his room and listen to all the silly excuses of why he needs me to go give him another hug and kiss. That’s all he ever really wants. It’s like, I blinked and my newborn became a child. My babies are becoming little people, little semi-independent people with their own thoughts and feelings and opinions.
So soon, Rorey won’t still fit in my arms to be easily carried to bed. Jack won’t find silly excuses to call me back to him. These little shoes by the door are a reminder that they are getting bigger and more independent, and they won’t stay little for long. My sweet, sweet boys, who, just moments ago, were babies who depended on me for every need they had.
May I continue to be reminded to never take their dependence on me for granted. It’s a gift that I know will be gone too soon."
Thanks, Natalee Grace. This still chokes me up, and I'll share it every year for a mom or dad who needs this tweak of perspective. ❤️
