Sweetness

,, { My Heart melted in Ur Sugar } ,,, originally uploaded by B a r s h o ™.

My kids are just full of it lately. I guess I really shouldn't even say "lately" because they've always been full of sweetness. It's just that they're now better at expressing it and it melts my heart.

I love the innocence and, to say it again, sweetness that I think comes naturally at this age. But, I also like to think that part of it has to do with their upbringing. :) I'm always telling Gene how much I want to freeze time. To keep them at the stage they are now because I know all too quickly things will change. Some things change for the better, and others, at least temporarily, change for the worse. It's just part of growing up.

So, I'm vowing to savor this stage. The I love you's and kisses that come without asking. EJ and Olivia are both known to come over, out of nowhere and plant a kiss or a hug and say I love you. Or, EJ is famous for his "Guess what, Mommy (or Daddy)?" questions. His answer when you say "what?" is always "I love you." And they are always unprompted.

The snuggles at bedtime.

The concern they have when you hurt yourself and the kisses that follow on any and all boo-boos.

The care they give to their babies. I will often find EJ asleep at night in bed with one of his many babies or stuffed animals, covered with one of his blankies and laying right next to him on his pillow. Olivia does the same.

The sight of my baby girl standing in the driveway waving goodbye to me as I drive away. If she is ever outside when you're leaving the house, she insists on walking you to the car, opening the door for you, closing it, and proceeding to wave and yell "bye-bye, Mommy" for as long as she can see your car driving away from her. It's one of the sweetest things I've ever seen.

The sight of my baby boy doing the same as above, only at preschool. He walks to me to door of his room as I'm leaving and holds it open, watching me walk down the hall towards the exit, saying "I love you, Mommy" and "Good-bye, Mommy" for as long as he can see me. And as I mentioned above, it's one of the sweetest things I've ever seen. I'm trying to remember to take my camera one morning when I drop them off so that I can capture it in all of its sweetness.

The "I love yous" that ring out long after I've said goodnight and closed both of their bedroom doors. I think it's a requirement that it's said back and forth to each of them a miminum of four times before they're satisfied and their rooms become silent.

All of the little things that they're doing and saying on an oh so regular basis that will change and evolve into something different, even if it's ever so slightly. But, it's just slight enough that you don't notice the change happening. There are so many stages that I so often believe I'll remember like it was yesterday only to realize that it's come and gone and I have a hard time recalling some of the things I swore I'd never forgot. Little things they've said or done. Little things like the above.

My mother in law is always telling me I need to write things down and while I have the best of intentions, it often doesn't happen. This blog was supposed to be an outlet for capturing some of these moments. And, I'm terrible at posting. For example, I've been meaning to write this post for over two weeks and I'm finally forcing myself to do it. I need to get better at documenting as it's only going to get crazier when the new addition makes his or her appearance in August. But, I'll keep trying.