The Moments

In honor of Mother's Day

Reposted note from March 10, 2010

Although the moment after the kids go to bed is a great part of my day, my favorite part is the moment before. The moment when we snuggle up close and enjoy each other’s company with a couple of good books, then shower each other with hugs and kisses and I-love-you’s after we express gratitude for each other to the One who loved us first.

That's Daniel at 3 months.

We started this practice when Daniel was only a few months old. He loved books! He could go on and on. I would indulge as long as I could until I knew prudence dictated that I put him down to sleep. Asha took a little longer to warm to the process. Until she was a year we would sing instead of read. I enjoyed this too, but there’s just something about reading books with your child that gives you a unique opportunity. A chance to see inside them. To see what interests them, what they love and what they’ve learned. Their excitement and attentions give them away. Especially for the little ones like Ethan, it is a glimpse into their unspoken world.

Reading books is also a way I share myself with my children. Not just my time, but my interests… “Did you know that I loved this book when I was your age?”, and my values... “Did you think that was the right way for them to treat each other?”. It provides a forum to talk about things that I think are important, and to teach things that the constant motion of the rest of the day just isn’t conducive for. I get to teach them new words, new ideas, and new ways of looking at the world. A moment when I don’t just get to see inside them, I get to change them from the inside out. It always changes me too.

I don’t think there are any other moments that can compete with these moments. Yes, they are only moments in my lifetime, but more than that, I think they are the best moments in my life.

Rocking My Baby

In honor of Mother's Day.

Reposted note from February 18, 2011

The cleaning and scrubbing will wait till tomorrow,

for children grow up, as I've learned to my sorrow.

So quiet down, cobwebs. Dust go to sleep.

I'm rocking my baby and babies don't keep.

~Ruth Hulburt Hamilton

Cobwebs and dust are the least of my worries.  As my friend Mari witnessed yesterday, it was moon sand, spaghetti sauce and Science covering my table, and popcorn covering my floor, and a host of other toys and papers covering my counter.  But instead of spending the evening cleaning, I spent it dancing.  I danced in the kitchen with a most handsome and charming half naked young man.  I was enchanted by the sparkle in his eyes, captivated by his laugh, and highly entertained by his lack of dancing skills (though his are still better than mine).  Someday he will be too busy to dance with his mother.  I will have plenty of time to clean then.  And then, the memories that I will wish to remember will not be of my house, but of my child.  I know that my time was well spent...
  I was rocking my baby, and I will not care that my house was not neat first.