Camping with Kiddies

 We took the kids camping this weekend- Owen has been before with Jacob, but it was Charlie’s first time. I was nervous that he would freak out at the end of the night about sleeping in a tent, but thankfully for me he was up all night the night before with a hacking cough so by the time we got to camping he was pretty tired. And he generally goes along with whatever Owen is doing. 

I hadn’t thought about how entertained they would be simply by the tent- they treated it like their fort and were jumping around, playing cars, having a grand old time in there. They were generally super cute the whole time- just running around and being silly in the woods, peeing on trees and eating snacks and getting excited about seeing the trees and sunrise and moon. It’s always amazing to see their excitement in things that we as adults can take for granted. We got to the valley on Sunday and went on a bike ride where Charlie proceeded to fall asleep for a good hour and a half as we rode around. 

Overall, great time with them.

Can I freeze time?

The title is a bit facetious but there are some things I wish I could just bottle up to return to - with Charlie turning 3 soon there is just a bit of baby left to him - the pudgy cheeks and how he still wants to be carried sometimes, and still wwants to snuggle and be a "baby" on occasion. I feel like those are things that I will look up in a few months and they'll be over, he'll be a big boy like his big brother running around everywhere and with no baby fat left to him.

It's mostly the cheeks - why do kids get the softest, plumpest, cutest cheeks around? I guess so we find them cute even when they're throwing tantrums! But seriously, I'll miss the soft, soft baby skin and snuggles.

And then with Owen it's big boy with glimpses of a future where he won't want to talk to me or hang out with me. It's like he's on the edge, one side wanting to still be a little boy where he has less responsibilities and gets coddled and on the other side is the wanting to be more mature and do more for himself but a little scared about what that entails too.

I feel like the wanting to bottle time runs through life but is much more acute in motherhood; I feel it more than I do about any of my earlier life. And then at the same time I wish I could freeze things I also am really excited for what is ahead, as the boys do get more mature and capable and we can go on more and bigger adventures with them.

Little ears everywhere

 I am reminded time and time again of how much kids pick up even when we're not talking directly to them / about them or don't even think they're listening.

The other day I was having a conversation with our au pair that was a little more on the serious side and I could tell Charlie picked up on the emotion and weight of it, because when I went to leave after that, heading out the door for a run, he asked me if I was running on the road and told me to be careful and make sure I watched out for cars. It's the first time he's ever said anything like that to me and we have been on the "be careful of cars" thing a lot because of bike riding, but my sense is that he wanted to convey something more there.

But on the general cuteness roundup, when I was putting Owen to bed the other night, which usually involves some dragging feet and prodding to brush teeth, I told him I loved him and he replied back that he loved me the most. That always makes my heart full.

Charlie on the other hand is full of it with planes and cars and birds right now and we'll go outside and he'll talk about how all the birds are going to get on the plane to go to Mexico (where we went for spring break). And then I call him Charlie Bird a lot and we talked the other day about what kind of bird he is, and decided on a seagull since they live at the beach and he said "hooray!". So cute. I also went in to put Owen to bed last night, Charlie was still awake, and I walked over and he said "Mommy I'm hungry". That kid and food!