Growing Up

It's inevitable that my little babies will eventually grow up. But sometimes that process can be sad. Dylan has developed a fear of the dark. He can't really express what's wrong, but when I put him to bed at night, he won't let me turn the light off. I have gotten into the practice of leaving the light dimmed for him, and when I put Devin (the 10 month old) down for bed, I turn the light off. I started doing that because even though I know Dylan prefers the light on now, if Devin wakes up during the night, the light keeps him up and I have to get him so he'll stop crying. Well this morning I realized that this practice isn't working. At 6 a.m. Devin woke up to be nursed. When I went into their room to get him, I found the door wide open and no Dylan in the bed. I searched around and found him. He was curled up on the couch next to a little lamp. It's the only light that I leave on at night, and he went to it for comfort :(. My little guy....That makes me sad.

They are both growing up in so many other ways. Devin will be a year old in less than 2 months!! How is that possible?! Where has the time gone? It feels like just yesterday we were bringing him home from the hospital. Now he almost has five teeth. He crawls everywhere (you can't stop him). Tries to play like Dylan. And makes the funnest sounds when he talks. I've gotta figure out what kind of party I want to throw him and who to invite. I think it'll be a lot smaller than when Dylan had his 1st birthday party. It didn't get out of control and he didn't seem overwhelmed or anything, but it was a lot of work.

I can see how both of my boys are growing and maturing. They play a lot better together for the time being, though I still have to monitor them to make sure Dylan doesn't knock Devin over or try to sit on 0him (why he does that is anyone's guess). It's not that Dylan has been terribly mean to Devin. For a two-year-old it's hard work to share your toys and space with a new person. This has been a good week for them and Bart. The three of them have played and laughed and just had a good time. Bart was upset today that he wasn't able to play with Dylan yesterday because he got home late from work and was too tired. That really touched my heart. Since we've been back from the beach, Devin has been soooo happy to see his daddy come home from work. Devin just about "runs" (crawls really fast) to the door when he hears him coming home. It's so precious. He didn't really do that before, but I guess he missed his daddy while we were on vacation.

We even went outside today for 30 minutes to take a little walk and blow bubbles. Dylan has been afraid to go outside to get some fresh air since we moved here because a very loud school bus and garbage truck have scared him. Today he was the one to ask to go outside. He wasn't too worried while we were playing, but once he heard some loud trucks on another street, he said that it was time to go home.

Anyway, as much as these two can drive me bonkers at times, I've really got to appreciate these moments because they grow up so fast. I can almost understand why families like the Duggars have so many children (the 18th child is due in January 2009!). That's not going to be me, but I can understand wanting to have and hold onto that little person that you brought home from the hospital for as long as you can and not having them grow up. But they do.

Gosh, guess I'm being a bit mushy today.