Sweet Spot Summer

It struck me while perusing the Buy Buy Baby registry for Greg's cousin.  I don't have wee ones any more.  Bottle-drying racks?  No need.  Crib sheets?  Breast milk bags?  All done.  (Apparently, not all done with Baby Signs, though.  The phrases "all done" and "more" still trigger hand motions I'll probably be using to wave away the nursing home aides.)


It's odd: this blog was born a couple of days before I became a mom.  I think I was trying to process my new identity... first a mom of an infant, then a toddler, then a mother of two little ones.  Always little ones.  I kept Goldfish in my purse; I could fold and load a double stroller in record time.  Eventually, I stopped writing my own mother's name on the forms asking for "Mother's Name".  Once I hit my stride, I milked their young childhoods as long as possible.  We kept Buzzy in a private Kindergarten associated with her preschool, so I didn't even have to send her off on a bus last fall.  But the gig's up.  She's off to first grade in September, and even Rosie is finally out of diapers and headed to pre-K (unless she ends up in juvie first--a distinct possibility and one she might even prefer).


Parenting a four- and a six- year old is right up my ally.  I can usually hold someone's hand.  We can read picture books.  But I've stopped carrying Goldfish in my bag and they can get the food from their plates into their own mouths, usually.  I can leave them in the shower for three fifteen minutes while I check Twitter dinner.  They're still not crazy busy with too many activities, so we have some flexibility and the ability to take advantage of it.  It's a good place, albeit fleeting.  Narrowing in are discussions about cliques, technology, and safety issues that go far beyond the tornado drills of my elementary school years.  Ducking and covering the backs of their necks with a Social Studies book isn't going to get either of my girls very far.  So, I'm going to try to savor this summer with my little big girls while they enjoy buckets, pails, bubbles, story hour at the library, and even the once-dreaded princesses.


Just remind me I said that in August.