"(...) It seemed to me during those early years of child raising that my sons' childhoods would go on forever. I couldn't imagine any life other than the one that consumed me right then, a life shaped by the joys and demands of raising young children.
(...) I missed my old world and its funny little inhabitants, those great big personalities still housed in small, sweet bodies. I missed my sons' kissable cheeks and round bellies, their unanswerable questions, their innocent faith, their sudden tears and wild, infectious giggles, even the smell of their morning breath, when they would leap, upon waking, from their own warm beds directly into ours. I missed the person I had been for them, too - the younger, more capable mother who read aloud for hours, stuck raisin eyes into bear-shaped pancakes, created knight's armor from cardboard and duct tape. Certainly my talents didn't seem quite so impressive anymore, my company not as desirable as it once had been.
(...) It is, of course, a universal drama - children grow up, they leave home, clock tick in empty bedrooms, and untouched gallons of milk turn sour in the fridge because no one's there to drink them. Parents mourn the loss and, at the same time, discover the will to reinvent themselves. I know I'm not the first mother who's found it hard to let go, who's yearned for change only to resist it when it comes, who's found it painful at times to accept the fact that my sons are pulling away, moving out into lives of their own. Nor will I be the last."
Katrina Kenison, The Gift of an ordinary Day
I heart these words! She speaks to me! I've heard about the "empty nest syndrome" and I will suffer of it too, most probably.
Life is a sequence of stages and none of them lasts forever.
Life is a sequence of stages and none of them lasts forever.
We've stopped using the crib for Ilaria (since the beginning of September). The crib is waiting for the other baby now. Ilaria has grown up. She's not a baby anymore...
Due to this change of beds Ilaria entered a new stage of sleep: she sleeps less; she became a morning person (she wakes up at 7-8, instead of the precedent 9-10 interval); instead of signalling her awakening with her voice, the first noise we hear now is of her room's door opening; and, last but not least: if she's not really very tired, she needs one of us for falling asleep .
I know that instead of gaining time, now that the baby-girl's arrival is so close, we spend more and more time taking care of Ilaria. But I treasure so much the half hour per day spent near Ilaria, helping her to fall asleep! I love this new addiction on parents of her! I'm well aware that, as any other stage of her life, this one won't last forever either. For sure, when she will be 20, she won't come to us begging for a little of co-sleeping...
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