Call me crazy but I love all the little things around my house that remind me that I am a mom, or that say, "Collin was here", or "Lucas was here". Here are some examples: (again, I feel like documenting this stuff for my own enjoyment, I don't imagine too many of you out there want all these details) I often find Collin's bath bucket full of chap sticks that he has collected throughout the house. I can usually predict what will happen if he sees me putting on chap stick, I will hear him trot down to his bathroom and push back the shower curtain to get his little orange bucket, then I will hear the "plunk, plunk" as he goes around collecting from night stands, purses, and kitchen and bathroom drawers. Lately it has tickled me so much to empty out his tractor seat after he has gone to bed. Last night I found two forks, the knob to the lamp (I heard it fall off the week before when Jesse turned it on) some random toys that were small enough to fit, and a Sam's club receipt that Collin had saved because of the smiley face. It's so fun to imagine what Collin's little mind was thinking as he rode around the house on his little tractor collecting treasures.
And now that Lucas is full-on mobile he stays busy with what Jesse and I refer to as "his little projects". I watched him working on one such "project" the other night as he went back and forth from his toy basket to the top of the stairs to watch each toy topple down one by one. After each toy would stop on the landing, he would turn around with the biggest, proudest grin on his face and quickly go get another one. I guess these kinds of things make me happy because of the reminders they are. I was doing laundry the other day and was lost in my mindless task, not really thinking about much when I came across Lucas' toothbrush. I had been looking for that thing for a couple days and had to smile as I thought about him walking around sucking on it and deciding the hamper looked like a good place to put it. Just that little thing pulled me out of my mindless task and made me think little prayers of gratitude for the people whose clothes I was washing.
It's a bit strange to hear myself talk about things like this, I remember so well hearing these same things from moms before I had kids. I guess I'm a little worried someone might read this and think like I used to think, "big deal, all kids do that", but it's my kids doing it and I get to experience it. I hope that I can remember these simple delights forever. It's not always the funnest to pick up toys and little misplaced items all the time, but as long as there are things like that around my house it means my kids haven't grown up, gone to college, gotten married, or moved away yet. Phew, I'm not ready for that. Thank heaven they're still little and still want to spend time with their Mama. For now, I will try to savor all the little bits of evidence I find that make me smile as I am reminded of the blessing it is to be Mama to these boys.
Here's Collin with a bit of 'evidence' I found on the kitchen floor--Thomas stickers!
"It's fern [for] you."
Sounds silly, but I like the fact that someone visiting my house for the first time would look around and say, "Yep, Mom to young'uns."
