{Ben, Shandell, + Malakai}
Recently we were spending some time with my in laws. There were about ten of us gathered in the living room after dinner. My son Malakai was scooting around playing with some new toys and his third cousin, 2-year-old Caleb was listening to a story. The room was all a chatter, but I happened to overhear one particular side conversation that picked up between Malakai's grandma Debbie and Caleb's grandma Dede. I'm fairly certain that were unaware of my listening in.
Their conversation was sparked Debbie's recent scrap booking fetish. She has been taking all her old photo albums, putting the pictures in chronological order and embellishing them with stickers and captions. The books are super cute and it has been really nice to look through their old photos and pick out my husband Ben at a certain age and compare him to Malakai. They look SO much alike that it's almost like a glimpse into what my son will look like down the road.
As we were scanning through the photos of Ben, his siblings, and cousins when they were toddlers we kept coming back to how fast childhood goes by. It's the most true of any cliche I've ever heard.
Dede began to reflect on when her own children were toddlers and how amazed she is that she now has a 2 year old grandson. She lamented about what she wished she would have done differently and I began to listen more intently.
She said that she would have stopped to watch more. Just let the laundry and the dishes wait and watch her children as they grew. Chores would always be there, but their childhood will not.
I smiled to myself at how simple yet valuable her revelation was. A handful of parenting books could have told me this very same thing, but hearing it as a sincere wish from a seasoned parent instead of unsolicited advice really made me take it to heart.
Starting at that moment I began to watch Malakai more intently. I want to burn his childhood into my memory so I can reflect on each occasion with joy instead of regret. In my life this means putting down the computer whenever Malakai plays independently to just observe him more. It means not stressing about getting him down for a nap so I can clean, but enjoying this stage while he still lets me rock him to sleep, it means playing with him on the floor before he's running out the door.
I want to encourage and challenge all you young mom's out there to be sure and take in every moment of your little one's childhood before it's a distant memory.
