Phases and Moments

O Dominic.  You have been the easiest baby.  You go to sleep by yourself, sit on the floor and entertain yourself, you rarely cry, rarely have been sick, you are so easy going.  But when it comes to food...you are my picky eater.  You are refusing to drink from a sippy cup or eat your vegetables.  Sometimes you like certain foods and other times you spit them out.  You gag every time you get a sip of formula (although I don't blame you for that one, it smells horrible!).  I have been trying to ween you for about a month now, but you just won't cooperate. (This picture is deceiving...he was pushing it away!) 

About the time I started getting really frustrated and thinking that you would never drink a glass of milk, I read an article that helped me put everything in perspective.  It was an article in the Huffington Post that someone posted on Facebook about the phases that kids go through.  The author talked about how each phase can be tough when our kids are going through them, and gave some examples: 

waking up every two hours at night

  crying unless they are being held

putting everything they can find on the floors in their mouths

requiring assistance for three hours at night to fall asleep

taking their socks and shoes off the second we put them in their carseat...

Her list went on and on and I could identify with so many of them. When our kids are going through these phases we think it will never end.  But the author assured us that it will end and another will begin.  And that one will end and another one will begin.  It's called Life. 

Looking back, I know she is absolutely right.  About a month ago, Andrew started climbing out of his crib and wouldn't go to sleep at night without Jarod or me rubbing his head until he was out.  I thought my life was over.  Turns out, that phase ended after a couple weeks and he is back to sleeping like normal.  I wonder what his next phase will be.

The good news is that amidst all these tough phase are wonderful moments that make it all worthwhile.  I've been witnessing a lot of these moments lately.  Dominic has started saying "mom" and every time I hear it I smile.  Andrew learned how to pedal his tricycle and now goes up and down the sidewalk all by himself. It's amazing the joy I feel watching my children learn new things. 

This morning there was a moment that completely melted my heart.  I was holding Dominic, and Andrew came up to me and took me over to where he was playing on the floor.  He motioned to me to set Dominic down right next to him.  So I did.  Andrew then gave Dominic a big hug and started handing him toys.  They stayed there and played together for a long time.  I just love watching them play together!

I am so thankful for all these wonderful moments and can't wait to experience many more!