It's the Little Things...

My 11 month old has recently become VERY affectionate. She has finally mastered the art of the hug. She will walk up to me with her arms wide open, and grab me around the neck. She also pats my back. (Lol.) Then she pulls away and rests her forhead on mine. (Her version of a kiss... you ask her for a kiss and that's what she does too. lol.) :)

I just started a blog for this very reason - I'm working hard to find the positive in everyday. A few of my favs - the kiddos dancing together, spring flowers, hubby looking at me with love, baby saying "we best friends M." - it's just wonderful. :-)

positivelymomstreet.blogspot.com

Everything about my children.
The way my husband looks at me and my children.
A flowering weed in the sidewalk.
The steam off on my morning coffee when it's really cool in my office.
A single white cloud against a really blue sky.
That time of day when the shadows are really long.
Someone letting you in their lane in really bad traffic.
A complete stranger holding open the door for you.
Crisp and clean sketch paper.
The sound of my 3 year old munching on sugar snap peas(love that sound!)
The smell and look of rich, dark soil after planting.

I could go on but.....

My (almost) four year old son is VERY polite and says "thank you mommy" all the time. He also says "yes sir" to everybody which is funny. I've tried to correct him but "yes sir" always comes out. LOL.

He always says "I love you mom" before going to bed. THAT gets me EVERY time and makes EVERYTHING better.

Getting compliments on how he behaves. He tends to be a SUPER ANGEL at school and with family. He saves all the wildness for at home (which is fine.)

keep it going, Moms!

Yesterday was a day of rejoicing for me! I took the day off for dr appts, finished in time to hit my younger son's track meet. When I decided to hit the road, I called my older son (at work where he comes/goes as he pleases) & asked if he wanted to drive me (1 1/2 hours away). He's 23....& he was happy to go with me! Rejoice! We even shopped our way home.

& my younger son knew that I was tied up with dr appts, so he did not expect to see me at all! The way his face lit up when he saw us was a "tears to the eyes" moment! Of course, it didn't stop him from riding home on the bus with the team.....can you believe it?!! He refused to be signed out early!

I love how both my sons hugged me "hello/goodbye" yesterday....in full view of friends. This is not random. It's each time we separate.

I love that my older son (23) brought home new music for me.

I love that my younger son (14) stole a daffodil from a neighbor's yard for me! (empty house, thank goodness!) When I asked "why" he did it, he fully described how their flowers were different from ours! & he was right.

I love that my sons & DH still chase each other around the house.

I love that my sons, on their own initiative, periodically call their Gma.

I love that my sons are totally & completely close to my sister's kids.

I love that my sons "gentle" their actions around Gr Gma who's 90!

Thanks for helping us count our blessings!

When we're walking to school and my 9 yo turns around to run back and give me a hug and say "I love you Mom".

When my 7 yo proclaims every time we go run errands together, even when they are totally boring, as the "best Mommy/Daughter day Ever!"

Watching my son take a deep breath, calm himself down, and say "sorry, I overreacted" instead of throwing a tantrum.

Overhearing my kids playing together, by choice, and getting along.

Playing soccer with my daughter and watching her determination to master the skills.

Thank you for this thread, I need to do this more often!!

Here are the things that my 5 year old daughter does that make me feel so blessed and joyous:

-- "I love you mommy"

-- big hugs and kisses

-- listening without having to be told twice

--crawls in bed with me in the morning and says "time to start the day mommy" (I am so not a morning person, where as my daughter is)

--cuddles, they are starting to happen less and les :( but enjoying the ones that I get :)

--I miss that little baby feel/weight, and how most fall asleep when being rocked in your arms... my daughter does that only once or twice a year now :(

When DD (3.5 yo) comes in our room in the morning and wants to cuddle for a bit instead of getting me out of bed right away.

When she grabs my face in her little hands and gives me a "zerbert".

When I do something fun for her, like help her build a pillow fort, and she says, "I love you Mommy!" (or any other time she says I love you at random moments). Or when she says "Thank you!" when I do something for her.

When she wants to hold hands walking somewhere.

When she colors or paints a picture and says it's for someone special (Daddy, me, her preschool teacher, etc.). One time she said, "It's nice to color pictures for people you love!"

AAWWWW! Ok, flash forward 18 years!

My oldest is a Merit Scholar in a 5 yr MS program for Computer Engineering at RIT. (Sorry, but it's the best I can do since the top of his head doesn't smell that way anymore!)

Next son (who was a 26 week preemie) will graduate next year with an Advanced Regents Diploma, and likely will have Merit Scholarships as well, only into psychology/sociology rather than math and science. AND more importantly, when asking what's for dinner, always responds SA-WEET!

The girl is 14, when she wakes up and stumbles past me every morning, STILL has that yummy just woke up baby smell. I talk to her friends on FB more than SHE does, she has a 96 GPA, is good-natured around the clock, did I mention drop-dead gorgeous?

But still.....to have that teeny baby-weight on my chest one more time...the 9 month old giggle and extreme facial expressions.....

Man, it goes WAY WAY WAY too FAST!

Great post!

:)

I love baby belly laughs! NO ONE makes my 15 month old laugh harder than his 7 year old sister... no one. It's the best.

I love it when out of the blue, my 5 year old appears and says 'I love you mama!'

I love eavesdropping on my 5 and 7 year old daughters pillow talk when they're supposed to be going to bed for the night. Who knew that Anthony is a cutey? Or that my 7 year olds new favorite animal is an elephant? Or that they only ate the asparagus at dinner because mommy worked really hard on it, but they both thought it was really gross?

My son is a terror... nonstop, from the second he wakes up until about an hour before bedtime... that hour in the evening melts all the naughty stuff away, when he finally winds down, climbs on the couch next to me with his blankie, and puts his sweet little head in my lap.

I also love watching the baby with our dog. We have a pretty big dog, a german plott hound, and HE'S the real baby in the house! My son will go up to him and grab a toy away, then the dog will chase the baby and tenderly take the toy back from him. If my son is being really stubborn with the toy, the dog actually grabs him by the seat of his pants and makes him sit, LMAO, then the baby points and yells at the dog. It's so funny. I swear our dog was a human in another life, he's so super gentle!

I love that the baby always kisses his big sisters goodbye, then watches them from the front window and waves goodbye as they get on the bus in the morning.

Speaking of shrieking... someone in their crib is fighting a nap and sounds like a wounded cat... ;)

The way my 3.5 year old son smells when he first wakes up.

The fact that I make him promise that "he'll never be too big to hug me" and he says it.

How proud of herself my 6 year old daughter looks when she reads a story to me.

There's more, but that's enough for now : )

-Knock-knock jokes
-Singing together
-Disney movies
-Hugs and high fives
-Arts and crafts
-Smiles
-Laughter
-Reading bedtime stories
-Tickling and being called the "Tickle Monster"
-Holding hands while walking
-Family time at the pool
-Playing with waterguns
-Her imagination
-Funny things she says
-How every day is a "party day"

When my kids say " Mom, you make the best food ever" or "I'm so glad you're my mom". In the middle of an otherwise hectic day, those words can really turn it around.

when both of my kids (6 & 4) tell my that i'm the best mommy they ever had :). and how my daughter (6) gets like a grizzly bear when somebody says (jokingly) that i'm a mean mommy. how my son snarls his nose while trying not to smile when he thinks something is funny. and how they both will come up and give me a hug and just say i love you infinity.

All of yours, is so hard to don't think about having more kids when they do things so cute, I miss so much her baby talk, her baby laugh, her baby smells, her little rolls, etc.
I am now enjoying her big kisses, she hold me tight with her tiny hands and brings me closer to her and give me a very tight, loud and sometimes even a little wet kiss, they are the best!
I also have things that I love of my older one (13) like when I catch her dancing or singing in her room, or when she comes to the car and she is just so exited to tell me all the "gossip" of the day at her school.

Sigh, if I was rich, and the world was 12 times bigger I would pop them like a rabbit, ok maybe not as many but I am sure going to miss all this things.

When I open my eyes and my son is staring at me with a huge smile and when he makes me special pictures and picks flowers for me.

Amy, thank you for this post, it is so sweet! It is important for us all to take moments to appreciate those little things in life that keep us going. Here are some of mine:

-"You so pwetty, Mommy!"
-"Mommy, am I pretty too?"
-"I love you!"
-"You wanna play with me, Mommy?"
-"Mommy, kiss my boo-boo"
-"I'm helping you, Mommy!"

My little ones
I love the bed time riual - night mamma, I'll see you in the morning. But I especially love the good mornings. They act like they haven't seen me in days. They get so excited. "MAMMA! I love you good morning, I missed you. did you have good dreams?" They make me feels so loved.
I love to hear my kids laughing.
My big girl - 18yr old
I love that she is so protective of me and so respectful. She makes it clear that my opinion is the one that matters most in the world and that me and her little brother and sister are the people she would protect with her life. I love when she drops everything she is doing if I ever need her. I love that she chooses to spend time with me over her friends without me even asking her to. I love that she never ever asks for money and won't accept it easily when I try to give it to her.

When my 2.5 year old son gives me a kiss on both cheeks, tells me to put my seatbelt on, says hi mommy, runs to give me a hug when I pick him up from daycare, he says come on mommy, he asks to read a book over again, and when he says good morning. My 1 year old daughter gives me a kiss on the cheek and repeats mommy about 6 times, smiles at me when she first wakes up, also when she smiles and gets happy when I pick her up from daycare. These are my little moments that I am thankful to God for that gives me a warm spirit.

when My little girl, (7months) rubs her face against mine
When she giggles
Watching my son who is almost 3 teach his little sister new things.
Watching them bang on stuff together.
When they play with daddy
Almost anything my son says. He is such a character. just listening to him talk about his toys makes me smile.
I could probably go on for a long time with this!

I love the way my 4yo runs to me and says "Mommy!" the exact same way every day that I pick him up from daycare. He has a smile that lights up his face and a sincerity in his voice that brings tears to my eyes. It's like he missed me all day.
I love the way my 2yo whispers "One more time" and holds up his little finger after we read a book every night. Last night I read "The Very Hungry Caterpillar" 3 times just because he asked so sweetly. Then he didn't want me to leave his bed so he wrapped his little arms around my neck and hugged me. No crying or whining, just a wordless request that I obliged.

I love how sweet they are to each other when they think no one is around. I love watching my 4 year old "read" books to his brother while they are laying on our bed. I love watching my 2yo run into his brothers room in the morning yelling "Wake up!" while he is climbing up into his bed.

It's funny that you posted this today. I was just thinking last night about the million little things that our children do that are so sweet and amazing and could be drowned out by every day "noise". It reminded me that I routinely need to stop and smell the roses so that I don't miss anything. Life is too short and this time in their lives is too fleeting to miss any of the details! Thank you for posting this!

When my son tells me "I love you Mommy' after I just scolded him for something...you know how badly I felt after that for reprimanding him:-((

The things you mentioned are SOOOO precious. I to feel the same way. And as I type this I am getting chills thinking about them and how fast those yrs go by. Before we know it our children will be all grown up and off to college. This time goes by SOOOOO fast, enjoy every moment of this.

Random hugs and kisses- just because

Sunday afternoons watching sports on the couch all together

"love you mom" at the end of every day

Hookie days- yes we have them lay around watch movies eat junk food hookie days. I am a working mom so sometimes I just miss my boys.

My son: I love whenever we get alone time together, how he looks at me and asks "Is this a Mommy-Cooper date!?". He's 2 :) Whenever we're putting him to bed, we sit on the floor at the head of his crib and he holds mine and daddy's hands through the bars and kisses our fingers while we sing to him. If his sister is awake, she starts trying to pull herself up on his crib bars so she can squeal at him until he looks at her--then they both just crack up at each other.
My daughter: she's 7 months old, and she was given this adorable little sun hat from her grandma, and whenever i pop it on her head and starts giggling and smiling uncontrollably. She LOVES wearing that hat! I also love how excited she gets to see her brother every morning and how she is fine playing with anybody as long as she's in mommy's arms
My husband: My husband is the most amazing man I have ever met, i love how every single morning he turns over and kisses me and says "Good morning, beautiful". I know it's corny, but it just makes me melt. We're going on 6 years now and I'm still as giddy to see him as I was that first month we were dating. Our kids are in love with him and he is a major rockstar Dad. My dad wasn't around growing up, and i am SO thankful that my kids won't ever have to have those abandoned feelings like I did. Thanks for this post, it was a good pick-me-up :)