I can’t even tell you how ready I am to enjoy some summer vacation. Bike rides, walks in the woods, weekly library visits and craft time (we’ll be enjoying a weekly visit with our cousin on Thursdays so craft Thursday will have to be craft another day each week…), and the POOL.
Ah, I loved summer when my kids were the age yours are now. Enjoy!
This really is a magic age. We drove by a dad and a baby today on the way to school and all went "awwww" at the same time. Violet asked me if I wanted another baby and I told her how much I loved having them as little babies but that I really loved the ages they were now and all the fun we have together.
Years ago, our paediatrician in Minnesota commented to me, upon seeing that our youngest was six months old already (!!!), that time has a funny way of flowing when you're a parent looking after young children. Her exact words were "the days are long, but the weeks and months fly by". Because I had an eight year old and a six year old at the time, I knew how absolutely right she was, and I vowed to try to always keep that in mind. I can only speak for myself, but there are moments — the children are bored or arguing, the house is an absolute mess, and why can't they just give me five minutes to myself please! — that made me want to speed up parenting, especially in those long summer months, and I found it really calming to tell myself that I would one day look back on it all and be extremely glad that I tried my best and was really there with them.
I really do remind myself often that this moment will be gone in a blink – just like the baby years before them. The old "I wish I had known then" really is true. When I had two kids less than two years apart I always felt crazed and messy and I wanted them to be older and now I look back and wish that I could have really sucked the marrow out of those days. I see all the little toddlerhood things they did in old pictures and I wish I would have enjoyed them thoroughly. I know there were so many headaches and sleepless nights but I think I spent an awful lot of time unhappy at that stage and that makes me sad. Those days were such treasures too! It makes me all the more conscious of wanting to hold onto now.
I remember my mom telling me that the school-age years were her favorite of parenting, and now that I'm nearly done (my kids will be seniors next year!) I think they were my favorite, too. They are physically so much easier, but they're still your kids and you're still the center of their universe. Hope you suck all the marrow out of these years as you can.