Because They're Only Little for a Little While.

Just sitting here with hot tea and Eva thinking about Alicia, my sister. She recently reminded me of our kids' evanescent littleness when she mentioned her son Jake, who is now 11 years old. She said to me "we only have him for 7 more years" in the context of our conversation. That really made me think of my kids and how we spend our days. The title of this post is so over-cliched but so so true and as a parent I don't take it to heart enough of the time.

With all the teaching and training and homework and getting ready for that and this, the days pass and then you look around and just blow the air out and sigh. How did we get here...not a question, just a statement. How do you do it, we just do. Maybe that's why I take my camera with me now almost every where we go. I don't have the greatest memory, so I think it is because I don't want to forget anything important. This morning the leaves were important. And even though it's a mathematical impossibility, I know I need to find a way to love them more every day.

Sarah is the funniest kid I have, she doesn't even try, she is just cracks me up daily. Yesterday after school, she got out of the car walking funny. I told her "just go to the bathroom already!" Upon that she said this to me:

"Mommy, I tried to go to the bathroom at school but my teacher wouldn't let me so I had to bring my p*e and p*op home with me."

Her teacher isn't mean, so I'm guessing it was right before the bell rang. She says all this with a straight face and walks slowly and contortedly to the bathroom. I love the way her mind works, she left me standing there thinking...

holy sh*t.

Sarah also brought home some schoolwork yesterday and when I looked at her picture of our family sitting on the couch, she told me how disappointed she was that she "didn't have a body." Her sentence says, "Every Friday, my family and I watch movies from Netflix." Makes you wonder how much kids tell their teachers about their family life. Sigh, just another reason to love them more.