Parenting Big Kids

I'll be honest. I'm not a big fan of babies. I mean, I like them...who doesn't? But when I hold a friend's baby, I'm usually thinking "How long before it's polite for me to give this baby to someone else?"  Kids though?  Looove kids. 

They are fun. They have imaginations and say strange and hilarious things.  They are people.  (Not that babies aren't people, but really--in the end--they act more like organisms than people...until they start toddling) But kids--they're still new-ish people so they are raw-er and real-er than most of the the grown-up people I know. 

I love talking to kids and playing with kids... and now that I'm a parent...I love taking breaks from kids.

Having big kids means you open up your planner and find a picture like this:

Having big kids means that someone pinkie swears that they'll start eating vegetables when they're five, and you know it's true because that same someone pinkie swore that they'd start going in the toilet all the time when they turned four and they did.

Having big kids means that someone looks up at your with big, bright eyes and says, "Sometimes I feel sensitiver than anyone in the world". And you want to cry from all the sweetness and love.

Having big kids means that they go and play upstairs for an hour and leave you downstairs to talk or read a magazine or get some stuff done around the house.  Sometimes they play upstairs so long that you miss them and go up to see what they're doing. 

Having big kids means that on a morning like today, when your alarm clock doesn't go off and you rush upstairs an hour later than usual expecting to wake still sleeping kids...you can find your four-year-old daughter's light on and when you open the door all the way, she gives a little dance and a ta-da! and shows you that she already got dressed all by herself. And after you rouse your completely asleep son, he asks his sister to stay with him while he dresses instead of you and as you pop the first English muffins out of the toaster, he bounds down the stairs, dressed already too.

I know I'm supposed to wish my kids would stay little forever.  But I'm glad they're growing up. They're supposed to.  I'm proud of who they are and am enthralled to see what they become as they grow. And you know what else having big kids means? 

Having big kids means having incredible growing, learning people in your house to teach you things while they learn from you. Having big kids means they begin getting their own lives and you can start paying more attention to yours.