Spring ahead & other things in life

Nice night for an evening.

We finished up dinner at six and I got my tired-from-work husband on board to take advantage of the extra hour of daylight. We bundled and leashed up the dogs and strapped the little Abominable Snowman into his stroller and hit the sidewalk toward the dirt road at the old tracks where we often go to let the dogs run free. We breathed the cold air in and a light, wet snow started to fall. Ryker walked the road in his big boots and winter get up, rosy cheeks, laughing hysterically at the crazy dog antics. 

Bry spotted a golf ball and the search began that led to trails we didn't even know existed. Ryker kept pretty good balance on the rough and muddy terrain and found a lonesome piece of snow he chewed along the way as the dogs randomly zipped past us, dodging trees running through long grass growing from mucky earth.

We got in just as the darkness fell and I sit here writing with just enough space on my desk for a mug of hot chocolate. The little man has warmed in a bubble bath and is cozy in his crib and the big guy is in the Man Cave watching a hockey game. The dogs are cleaned up as best possible and on their beds. My family. All of us snug.

It was just what I needed.

•••

He looked so much older and confident when I picked him up from the toddler room today. He walked to the truck with his little Dr. Seuss backpack on his arm and then from the truck to the front door when we got home greeting each dog with a hug. This growing up thing.... It's hard to take, but exciting to witness.

•••

Did I say all of us snug? Temporarily. You see, we're re-sleep training this week. Backtracking to a year ago. Ryker has been sleeping with us for the past few weeks ever since he was sick and I've been loving it. When he gets up in the night, I just scoop him up and bring him into bed and he's adapted quite well. Daddy, not so much. Ryker cuddles into me and kicks daddy to the edge of the bed.

I love it because he's never slept with us. He never could. He's always needed his space and slept well alone. Well, enough is enough and it's nice to sleep next to my husband again and the thought of us all in one bed continuing long into the future frightens me.

I can't wrap my head around how a kid goes to sleep once they've moved from the crib to a bed. I seriously don't understand the idea of laying a two-year-old on a mattress sans cage and he just staying there. It can't be possible. Which is why one of my BF's lays with her two-year-old every night. Not just because she won't stay and sleep in her big girl bed, but as translated in a late-night text conversation a month ago no one will ever convince her to not stay with her until she falls asleep when you miss the whole day with her.

This coming from two moms whose babies have slept on their own since day one.

She said, and I love this so much, "Isn't it funny how we worried about all those things we would never do as parents. Turns out who knows and who cares."

12.3.13