Life on the Other side...

I’ve been really noticing lately how big the kids are getting – Roddie is really starting to fill out -  he’s still got long limbs, but they seem almost the same size as Norah’s some days.  I also noticed that his body core has gotten much wider as well, during one of our late night sleep interruptions recently.  Norah seems to grow out of her pants on a regular basis, usually just after she finally decided she liked a particular pair!  I am thankful that leggings are not only in vogue for little girls and acceptable by Norah, but also quite forgiving in the length department.

I’m also acutely aware of the pending change to kindergarten for Norah.  Registration, after school care, school vacations…all these things are on my calendar already.  She’s also thinking of playing town soccer, you know, on a team, not lessons, this year and we’ve started shopping for a new dance class, now that she won’t be taking lessons at daycare.  Oh, and there is that 5^th birthday party coming up in a few weeks…

Roddie can sing his ABC’s, and recognize most of them.  He has favorite colors, pants, and toys.  He’s differentiating himself from his sister and at the same time they care for each other like no other.

All of these things are indications that we’re moving on to a new phase with the kids – truth be told, we’ve moved on – donated the crib, high chairs, booster seats and so on, but it wasn’t until this morning that it really hit me.

I saw a mom dropping off her child in the infant room, and as she left to go out to her car I noticed she had the tell-tale black Medela cooler – the one that comes with the breast pump.  Man, I thought, I don’t miss those days!  Then, as she drove away, I noticed another mom – turns out it was Roddie’s special pal Kendal’s mom – taking 2 kids out of her car.  Kendall is 2.5 and her little sister is less than six months old – so still in the carrier car seat.  Kendall’s mom, usually very attractive and well put together,  looked anything but herself.  In her defense, she’s either just back to work, or going back soon, but I wanted to give her a hug and tell her that it does get easier!   The winter when Norah and Roddie were roughly that age was definitely the hardest time for the morning routine.

The weather will warm up, the baby will learn to walk, and before you know it you’ll be registering for Kindergarten and wanting to give some other mom, who is where you’ve been, a hug.  It happens faster than you’d think.