It was so very nice to get a nice, dry day for a change. It has been such a wet, chilly spring so far. Maybe it's just me. Maybe I am getting too old. The kids don't seem to bothered one bit. Mud, sun, rain, what's the difference?
Joshua has learned to open the door. And he can unlock it just as easily.
I was sharing my woes with a friend of mine, one who has raised her children already, and she told me, "Well, when my kids were young, I didn't have to put locks on the doors. I just watched them."
Hey now.
No, she didn't mean anything by it, but it did get me to thinking. When the girls were little, back when there was no older siblings to give a helping eye, I remember being out in the yard, and having to scoop them both up, one under each arm, when I needed to run into the house. I remember waiting to take a shower (no matter how badly I needed it) until Tony got home. I couldn't go downstairs to do laundry for fear of what Paige might do to Courtney. (Not that she would. Nothing like supergluing her eye shut or anything like that.)
So why do I expect different from my babies now? Should it be easier now because there are older siblings to help out? Or is it harder because the babies have older siblings to take their cue from and think they can do everything the big kids can do? Easier because I am home more now, or harder because the reason I am home more is because I am schooling four kids?
It is not easier or harder, just different. A growing family changes every year, every month, every day. So do I watch my children less these days? Well, I sure hope not. I just get a little more easily tired of the whole "Did he go outside again?" game. There I go feeling old again.
So maybe this summer, we will all spend more time outside. Maybe he will learn that he must wait for us before he runs out the door (with or without his shoes... or pants)
....or maybe we will just install a heavy duty dead bolt!
