Why I Love This Age

WARNING: This is a blabber post!

I've been thinking a lot lately about enjoying my kids at these young stages in their lives.  As a Child Development major in college, I remember reading about a survey of parents that asked what their best and worst ages of children to parent were.  The definite "easiest" age range was determined to be 6-10 years old.  Consensus on the "hardest" ages to parent was split - half thought the hardest age was 13-18 and the other half thought it was ages 0-5. 

Well, I've only experienced the 0-5 age and it's been great but there has also been plenty of tough road paved along the way.  When my kids have been babies, it was really easy to want them to hurry along to the next stage because "then it would be easier."  I've been guilty of it often - "If only he was crawling." "If only she could sit up on her own." "OH I dream of the day he sleeps through the night."  With Gracen, it really hit me that she was my third.  What I mean by that is, even though I want a big family, there isn't going to be an endless supply of babyness coming my way.  At some point, we will move on from this parenting of young kids stage and, since Gracen is already my third, I'm well on my way through that stage. 

When she was born, I told myself I was going to figure out just exactly which baby age was my favorite and it's funny what has happened.  When babies are 0-3 months, it seems that life is a blur of night wakings and multiple diaper changes and figuring out how to get out of the house between so many naptimes in one day.  During this stage with Gracen, I thought that even though living on so little interrupted sleep is tough, this had to be my favorite stage because babies this age are so small and they snuggle and are holdable and rockable. Then the 4-6 month age came along and Gracen was laughing and babbling and her sweet little personality started to show and I thought to myself, "This age where I first really get to know a baby's personality must be my favorite."  Then 7-12 months came along and with it a whole bunch of firsts - first teeth, first words, sitting up, crawling, walking.  All those milestones are so exciting to go through and as Gracen went through them I thought, "Okay, this is it: definitely my favorite stage."  With Eli, I remember thinking that I really enjoyed him right after he turned one.  And now Gracen has just turned one and oh boy, this is DEFINITELY my favorite stage.  It is the best and the worst, actually.  It is the worst because my baby is really not a baby anymore.  I feel like I have to say goodbye to babyhood.  But with that, I get to welcome so much funness.  This is such a fun age.  It cracks me up that babies this age can't hear music without grooving to it, bending their knees back and forth or swaying side to side (this includes church hymns - too funny!).  I love watching Gracen toddle around with her wide "I   look like I just got done a day of horseback riding" gait.  Her hair has finally grown long enough that she can sport these tiny little "antennae" ponytails that are just too cute.  She's so independent - I can go to the playplace at the mall and actually sit down while all my kids play.  At this age, Gracen will occupy her own time at home.  And why is it that a simple gesture like clapping hands or waving "bye-bye" elicits so much joy in me?  Overnight it seems that I've suddenly found myself the mom of 3 fun little kids.

Which, in a very round-about and rambling way, brings me back to the whole parenting of ages 0-5 subject that I started in the beginning.  I love being a parent of kids these ages.  For one thing, they listen to everything I say.  They're certainly not always obedient, but my kids are currently under the impression that I know everything about everything.  They also think I can do pretty much anything.  And that is a very good position to find yourself in as a parent. (The bubble is about to burst - Alden asks progressively tougher questions - at some point very soon he's going to figure out that I may in fact not know as much as he thinks I do.)  Another reason why I love this age is because these kids are completely under my wing.  None of them have entered school yet and since I am super blessed to be a stay-at-home mom, I am by far their biggest influence.  (That bubble is also about to start leaking when Alden starts preschool in January.  Am I really ready to let my "baby" out of the house into someone else's hands?!) I'm not even out of this 0-5 parenting stage and already I'm lamenting the loss of it!

I am so honored to be a mom!  Especially to this pack of awesome kids!!