Fancy Pants and Other Shiny Things

You spend hours on your knees, coaxing them your way with shiny objects, high pitched sing songy name calling and enough praise to make someones head explode. And then...they take off.

After the pain in my cheeks had worn away from smiling so hard, I retreated to the kitchen to finish making the dinner that was abandoned when Wyatt called out "he's going!" And proceeded to smack his lips and snap his fingers as if he was calling a dog.

Thirty short seconds and a loud crash later, I remembered that not only is a crawling baby more fun, but also more work. But he seems so tickled with himself. So determined to catch up to his ball of fire brother and be a part of the action.

Sometimes I just want bottle his littleness, keep it forever, and hold him in my arms until his head relaxes and sinks into my arm, and his little pouty bottom lip hangs open like it does when he's deep asleep. Then kiss that little trying to grow hair head of his and soak it all in.

And lately I find myself doing a lot of peering around corners, and spying over the half wall into the living room, because something is developing around here. Something I've been dreaming of since day one when I first held Ben's slippery little body against my chest and Wyatt leaned in and kissed that minutes old wrinkled forehead. It's a little bit of camaraderie, right here on the very floor that just so recently was battleground central when it came to toys. Wyatt's will pass toys in Ben's direction (of course while stealing others) and say in the sweetest big brother voice at the first whimper sound out of Ben's mouth, "it's ok brother, Wyatt's here."

I'm such a sap, and I've been waiting for this, dreaming of the day that they will go zipping from room to room, leaving an explosion of toys in their wake. And granted, I may be getting a little ahead of myself here, but the magic is starting. And as Wyatt snapped and whistled for Ben to follow him to his room, Ben so happily obliged, lifting his little chubby knees as fast as he could, flashing his little toothless grin in Wyatt's direction.

I am one happy Mama, and although my little babies may be ever so rapidly transforming, changing and growing, I know that pretty soon, my arms will be full with brand new, tiny and pink little bundles of newborn baby, because I currently have 13 friends expecting this spring and summer, lucky 13. I can't wait to hold those little babies and feel their little fingers curl over mine as friends exclaim across the room about how tiny they are and that there is no way my babies were ever this small. Friends and babies are two of the best gifts in life, and when combined - an overload of love, truly one of the best things in life.