These are the days . . .

Parents of young children are often warned, by parents of grown children, that time flies. I've heard "They grow up so fast" so many times, and I know that it is true, even though on some particularly long days, I have moments when I wish they could grow up a little faster. Years ago, before I had kids, I was talking to a friend's mother, who told me, "I wish I would have enjoyed my kids more." This woman is a great mom, and I'm sure she did enjoy her kids, but I imagine most parents of grown children still end up feeling some version of "I wish I would have enjoyed my kids more."

Here are some things I will miss when my boys are grown up and that I try not to take for granted now (NTB an understood for each):
* the joy I feel when they make each other laugh
* the way they touch and wrestle with each other, almost like playful puppies
* how sweet they look and smell after bathtime with their hair wet and brushed, their jammies on, and their skin smelling like baby lotion
* the way Little Bit looks these days as he experiments with finger foods -- bananas crusted in his hair and eyebrows, pants covered with morsels that did not make it into his mouth
* Bub's enthusiastic descriptions of what he and his imaginary friends are up to, his eagerness to go to school, his hopeful sense that all other kids are potential friends
* how darn cute Bub looks when he runs around the house in his big boy pants
* how often and how easily Little Bit smiles, the funny little hop/crawl thing he has going on right now, how proud he is when he climbs up on to his little chair (even though he does not know how to get down without hurting himself)
* the moments when Bub will tell me, unsolicited, "I love you, mommy."
* the fact that Little Bit loves me so much that he wants to be awake and hanging out with me almost all day and a couple of times at night too!
* the fact that Bub still likes to be rocked some nights before bed -- some nights I am tired and wanting bedtime to be over so I clean up, blog, watch television, or check facebook, but as I sit rocking him, I think, "Ten years from now, five years from now, maybe even one year from now, you will give anything to have this boy wanting you to rock him." Then, I squeeze him a little tighter.
* the moment when Little Bit finishes eating before bed and passes out on the boppy, looking so peaceful
* seeing Little Bit asleep on the video monitor with his little behind up in the air
* having a snack with Bub, often a soft pretzel, during Little Bit's morning nap -- "We can share it, mom!"
* the fact that I can dress them in matching outfits and neither complains
* the wet kisses Little Bit now gives
* the way Bub trots back from "storytime" at church with a huge smile on his face

This list could go on and on. There are hundreds more things I want to remember, and I hope I do remember them.

Mostly though, I want to remember to enjoy my kids.