Milestones

Yesterday afternoon, we went to the playground. As I sat there on the bench, watching all 3 of my children running, climbing, sliding and swinging, I was struck by how quickly they seem to be growing.

I first came to this playground 6 years ago, when BigBro was just starting to crawl. I used to hover over him, crawling around on the rubberized surface, watching him pull up on the ladders and play with the big, plastic sliding bugs. We don't usually come to this playground in the summer (it gets too much direct sunlight, and is also home to a "summer day camp"). Yesterday was our first afternoon here in close to six months. And the changes were dramatic:

• LilBro climbed up the various different "rock walls" and multi-shaped ladders with ease
• Princess pumped her legs on the swing without being pushed
• All of the sections that were "scary" or "too hard" or "too high" last spring, weren't anymore
• LilBro was able to rotate the crank and move the cars around the racetrack

I remember that fall 6 years ago, as I followed my tiny crawler around the playground, I would occasionally see a mom or dad sitting on a bench, book in hand. Yeah, um... don't see that one happening. Well, yesterday, as I sat on the bench, watching the "spaceship" game my children were playing, I realized that day had arrived. It was finally my turn to sit on the bench with a book. Now, I just need to remember to bring the book!