Forever and For Always

I have recently been reading all of the heartwarming and heart wrenching stories of mama's struggling through the "first day of school" jitters with their little ones (well, apparently not so little ones) and have been thanking my lucky stars that we are no where near jumping that hurtle with our little guy. At only 17 months of age, we are still working on getting him to talk, getting him to sleep through the night, and getting him to respond to the word "No" (a word I try to not use too often without a brief explanation following that wretched word).

But as I type these words, my little man is waddling around, still in his pj's, "reading" a book. And within seconds, he will come hand the book to me, and point to each and every thing on the pages and say "huh?" to each one. And that is when I will tell him what all of those things are he so curiously is pointing at, even if I have to say the word "zebra" 10 times in a row, I don't mind, because I see his little brain processing it all, over and over and over.

These are the moments I treasure the most. The little times when he comes to me for the answers, and the times he comes to me for comfort and love. Those are the times that bring tears to my eyes and warm feelings to my heart. The times when I feel SO guilty for getting frustrated for being woken up 15 times in the night by a kick in the side or a slap to the face. These are the times I look at him and think to myself, what ever did I do without you? These are the times I record in my mind, to remember forever and for always, because one day, a few September's from now, I will be sending him off to his first day of school, and going through those same heart wrenching feelings that so many of you already have, and I am absolutely positive, that day....the first day of school that feels so far from now, will be here before I know it. And he will be wanting to read his books all by himself without the help of his mommy. And he will be saying a million and a half words by then, all without my help. And he will fall or be sad, and not need his mommy to be there to comfort him and kiss him and make it all better.

That's why these are the times I treasure the most, because they won't last forever. At least not here, in the real world. But in my heart, I will remember these times, forever...and for always.