7 Things I’m Loving About Motherhood Right Now

1. The hugs and I love you phase. Phrases like “I love you so much Mommy” and “You’re my sunshine” are scattered through my day. There are lots and lots of hugs and lots of “I love you Mommy’s”.

2. We can pick up and go. Sure we usually need to grab Mickey and it’s probably good to still keep a change of clothes in the car but for the most part we don’t need to take the entire house with us to go somewhere. And if I forget a sippy cup it’s not end of days because he can drink from a cup now.

3. The opt out phase. When Jack was younger all activities were “mommy and me”. Which was fun for awhile and I did have a moment of sadness when I took Jack to his first solo swimming lesson but within minutes I realized how happy I was not to be in that pool full of 3 year-olds, and how nice it was for someone else to be in charge even if it was only a half hour. Plus I like being able to watch from the sidelines. 3 – 3 1/2 definitely seems to be the sweet spot for on their own activities.

4. By myself. He can do things by himself and while the list of things he can do by himself is much longer than the list of things he will do by himself, there are definitely things that he is starting to (reluctantly) embrace doing on his own. He takes his own shoes off, he can go to the potty by himself, he can do the stairs on his own, he can go up to my room and grab my book off the nightstand.

5. Conversations, like real conversations where he considers what I’ve said and thinks about it and responds. I love that we can chat in the car about his day at school and I actually get details and kids names. At the beginning of the school year I got a two word response and now I get to hear all about his day. He has opinions and likes and dislikes and I love that he shares them with me. His favorite color is blue and he favorite number is 8, because he likes things that are round.