Mommy Ears

I am grateful that I have healthy daughters that love me and want to be attached to me. I am grateful they have feelings to cry, a desire to communicate with me by and all means, breath to scream and personality to sass. BUT I would love and adore them just as much if they chose to adore me lovingly across the room, sitting quietly on the couch, wanting nothing to "eat" (aka. help mom stay busy and productive) or spill, I mean drink.




I've always loved the sound of kid noises. In high school, I remember babysitting 4 kids and friend came over to visit. Her ears couldn't take their noise, I told her that these were happy, playful sounds and to be grateful to not be subjected to the shrieking, unhappy ones. Now as a mother, I get the best of both those noisy worlds AND my ears are very often crying for mercy!

An older woman, a mother of 5 boys. They are all grown up and she is now enjoying her stage of great grandmotherhood. She reminded a group of young mothers, like myself, that all too soon that the days become extremely quiet and slow; that she finds herself relishing the sweet raucous that her great grandchildren and the young neighbor children make when they come to visit. Her ears obviously miss those sounds of a time not too far past. I need to ask her if she misses putting her sons BACK into bed a dozen times over.

I'm sure that particular moment in motherhood she doesn't crave to do over again. But even when I am tired of the pattering of little feet that should have recharging in stillness for a new day of climbing, marching, jumping, dancing and stamping out of disgust of being told to pick up toys (lest the Gobble Monster comes to eat their toys)--appreciate the littleness of their bodies that are all too fast growing. When I go to put Maia in her bed for the 32nd time (okay it was only about 10 times), I know that teeny body will someday be so big that I can't pick her up with ease. I do love the feeling of holding her--which is a blessing that keeps me from wanting to accidentally drop her on the floor instead of her soft bed after repeating it 2 hrs after she originally was put down to bed.