little things

Nearly every night I sneak into Birdie and Timmy's rooms and I wake them up as softly as I can to carry them to the bathroom one more time before I go to bed. Timmy always lays his head on my shoulder, breathing softly onto my cheek. Birdie always wraps her long legs around my waist and squeezes my neck tightly until I set her down. Then she rests her head on my legs while we wait for her to go to the bathroom.

Mya has a way of playing with Mr. Bear's ear while we read to her at night. She sits there attentive to every word, brushing his ear between two of her fingers back and forth, back and forth. 

Genevieve likes to trace the side of my body with her pointer finger while I read Narnia to her at night. At first my body tensed at the touch because it felt too personal, but then I relaxed when I realized she's probably copying the same behavior I do to her. I love to trace and outline her face and arms. I am no longer tense at the touch. 

Elle seeks one-on-one time the most. She almost always sits on my workout bench in the mornings, watching my lift weights or run on the treadmill. She'll bring me water and chatter away until the workout is done. This morning she begged me to go with me on my run outside. I had planned to run 3.5 miles on the street. I wanted to say no because running is such a personal thing for me, but I saw her face and told her to find her shoes and her helmet. She rode her bike beside me, telling me why it was important that she was created different than her best friend. She said, "She's different than me. And that's actually perfect because I don't think I'd like being the same as anyone else. I like that we are all special." Elle is a special girl. 

These are little moments that have been on my mind a lot lately, and I wanted to record them. There's so much to motherhood that really needs to get recorded because it's cute or funny, but there isn't enough time. Perhaps I can mention a few funny things: Timmy calls pepperoni "pepporina," and there isn't a single ounce of me that wants to correct that little bubba. Elle has started to spell out her sentences so Birdie can't understand her. It makes me laugh because it seems like such a big person thing to do, but she's caught on, and she loves telling us stuff Birdie can't understand. Tim has stops at gas stations if Mya ever tells us she has gas. He figures it's best to mix gas with gas. It makes me laugh every time she tells me they've stopped somewhere.