Ages and Stages

Amelia is so very two years old.... She is demanding, clever, nosy... She is different than her older sister at this age - not at all interested in the television, much more tactile and she loves to be held and cuddled. I will confess to moments of frustration, to thinking to myself 'I can't wait until she's three, I can't wait until she'll watch 20 minutes of 'Dora' so I can get dinner on the table.'

Yesterday early in the morning a thunderstorm swept through. Amelia woke up crying, scared and John brought her back to our bed. She was literally trembling saying 'it's scary to me' as she laid down on my chest with her head tucked under my chin. I could feel her heart racing against my chest, but soon she settled down and fell back to sleep laying there on top of me.

Even though Amelia is a little peanut, nearly 25 pounds of sleeping baby is a lot. I laid there listening to the storm, rubbing her back and for a moment I started to wish I could just put her back in her crib so I could get a few more minutes of sleep.

I thought about Amelia as a tiny, tiny baby laying on my chest in much the same way. I thought about how quickly the last two years of her life have passed. I know the time is coming far too soon where the things that are 'scary to her' will not be so easily soothed. Any minute she will really be too big to lay on my chest and fall asleep with her head tucked up under my chin. I felt overwhelmed with the blessing and responsibility of being her mom and dozed off until John woke us both up an hour past our usual wake up call...