Let them be little

Everyday people ask me about what milestones my kids have hit, if they're reading chapter books, telling me that certain things need to happen by a certain time. Like stop. Just stop. They're only little once and I just want to enjoy these kids while I have them. Obviously I too want certain things to happen, I would love to wake up to Ryker and Skyler being out of diapers and I would love for Brooke to be passed the stage where she wants to sleep with me. But at the end of the day I remember that I'll miss all of these moments when they're older. I already miss so much that Brooke used to do, the way she used to say "ducky" instead of "yucky" or how she would pick out all the marshmallows of her lucky charms and just eat the cereal part or even the high pitched screaming that would occur when she accidentally fed the dog a carrot that she wanted to feed him. Their little quirks are all so adorable to me and I couldn't imagine just skipping over these stages. There's no manual for kids so there's no proof that all kids need to hit milestones by a certain time. Kids are kids, they throw fits, they get upset when they don't get their way, they make huge messes, they make mistakes. My job as a mom is to teach them how to deal with things instead of throwing fits, that they don't always get their way, and that messes are okay if you clean up when you're done. This isn't something I expect from my kids the moment they're born or in many of my kids cases being adopted into our family, these are all learned traits and I will take as much time as possible to make them learn those lessons. For now however, I'm going to let them be little.