The most negligent blogger ever

And not because there haven't been topics!

Let me just spew out a few thoughts here, get back to the business of prepping my ONE(!) class this semester and then, hopefully clear off a regular space on my plate for more consistent, fuller posts.

First, let me point you to a fantastic short animated video by Jeff Scher based on his son during the toddler stage. I love the topic of parenting generally, and particularly when people present it through their own talent-lense.

Second, a quick story that sums up our holiday season quite well. I took down our Christmas tree the other day. At first, Big was into it. Taking the ornaments off of the tree, throwing them into the box and enjoying the lights. Once he realized what was happening though, as the tree lay on its side in our living room, and I put on my gloves and coat, he wondered what was happening to our tree. Where was it going?

He began to cry inconsolably, heaving great and heavy tears into my shoulders.

I was sad too. Not for the tree though. But because Christmas with our three year old and eight year old was over. Next year they'll be four and nine and it'll be another ballgame. Not better or worse, but different.

I wondered, at some point last month if children are a little like Christmas trees. I find myself, often, pre-grieving that time when they'll head off to college. Parents with older kids never let you forget how fast the time goes with all their before-you-know-its and eighteen-short-years etc. And I am constantly in that space of wanting to hold on to that time when they're little. To expand it and take advantage of it to the fullest. I instantly regret it when they start saying words correctly as opposed to their pre-verbal utterances that charm you.

But I wonder if your eighteen-year-old children are like the January Christmas tree in your living room, no longer sucking up water by the pints, but instead depositing sharp needles onto your floor and now serving as a holding pattern for the second-tier presents. Will I simply be ready to strip them of their ornaments and drag them out to the front lawn? Or am I only okay with this in the context of the tree because I know that December is only 11 short months away?