Aside

When I was a child I recall always wanting to be older than what I was. I never wanted to be called a “kid” and forget it if you wanted me to eat from a “kids” menu. That may be because my parents refused to buy me Happy Meals from McDonald’s when I was little. I got a sandwich and a small fry. No drinks; “We have drinks at home.” Believe it or not, but McDonald’s didn’t always have the combo meals you actually had to order each item a la cart and thus a drink was an additional expense.

Anyway, this isn’t about McDonald’s. It’s aboutmy kids and how they are both starting to do things that seem to be way beyond their years. Rory is turning 3 on Saturday. He is newly potty trained, but in many ways he still reminds me of a baby. He wants to be carried all the time and he still wants “Mommy” a lot.

A few nights ago, I woke up to the sound of one of the children’s bedroom doors opening. It was 2:00am. I lay motionless except to fix my eyes on the door to see what child was roused from their slumber. I watched Rory shuffle into the bathroom with his binky in his mouth and dragging his “B” (blanket) along behind him. I waited for him to yell out “Mama! I go pee!” Which is what typically happens in these cases, but instead, I heard the tell-tale sound of pee in the toilet. A few seconds later, Rory muddled right back in his room like a middle aged man after working a 14 hour day.

I used to get my mom up whenever I had to pee when I was a child. I made her walk me down the hall, stand there while I did my business and then walk me back to my room. I don’t remember how long I made her do it, but I have actual memories of it so I know I was older than Rory is now. Both of my kids have seemed to be able to master peeing on their own in the middle of the night without my assistance.

I pick Kamryn up at school everyday right before lunch. Today, as I was putting Rory’s shoes on to go pick up his sister, he told me he was tired. I told him after lunch he could take a nap. Once we were home and finished with lunch, Kamryn came out in the living room to tell me that Rory locked himself in his room. I don’t have the key, but I can get the door open with a drill bit (plus it makes me feel like MacGyver). Once I had gotten the door open, I saw my *still* 2 year old little boy fast asleep in his bed. And it’s not like he passed out on his bed – he crawled into bed, covered himself up and went to sleep.

I think sleep problems are probably the most frustrating for any parent and while I can’t say that we escaped all sleep issues entirely, I now have two kids who will actually ask and sometimes beg to go to bed every single night.

Speaking of sleep, Kamryn has been known to get up in the morning and make her own breakfast – even making breakfast for Rory once, while Ryan and I slept. This is something that I could really get used to. I don’t know why, but I despise making breakfast. I love to cook, but I feel too rushed in the morning to actually want to make anything that involves more than milk, a bowl, and a box.

None of these things are earth shattering and if you don’t have kids, you may assume that kids just do this stuff naturally. I did until I had my own brood. As it turns out kids rely on their parents for practically everything. Who knew? So while one minute I am scrubbing marker off Rory’s legs because he was trying to give himself a tattoo, he can also be found pouring himself his own glass of milk and even cleaning up what he spilled all over the floor.