Milestones

Little Hansie boy is just on the verge of true walking. While uninspired by our attempts to hold his little hands and force him to walk or our eager outstretched arms beckoning him to take a few steps towards us, he often lets go of the chair or table he’s been holding to when needing two hands to properly manage some toy or other (not realizing at all that he’s standing unaided). And the last day or two have found him, for convenience sake, braving the distance in steps between one piece of furniture and another.

And that’s nine babies I’ve seen progress from rolling to scooting to crawling to walking! Nine!

Of course we can’t dust off our hands just yet. We’ve only seen seven through potty training (perhaps the “only” should be omitted there), and we are only on our second child in the progression to . . . driving. (Daisy’s birthday is next month. We will have to cram eight more hours of driving in before she can officially get her license, but we are all excitement! What a wondrous new thing this summer will be with the girls being able to go off on little adventures together! Having Abe drive has been hugely useful to me, but I imagine the changed dynamics and overall excitement generated by another licensed driver will be greater with Daisy as she will be much more likely to plan outings with her younger sisters – visits to cousins, shopping, etc.)

In any case. That’s a lot of people to get through every milestone leading to independent adulthood! Sometimes the thought is overwhelming. I must teach everyone to read, and write their names, and pour milk without spilling, and take a shower that actually gets them clean, and tie shoes, and ride bikes, and say prayers, and read their scriptures, and do their homework, and sweep a floor properly, and mix all the ingredients to make cookies, and fill out college applications, and . . . ? Everyone? All of them? All those things??

Of course it’s the thought that’s overwhelming. In practice . . . it just keeps happening through the day-to-day living of life.

But I do wonder about this living . . . and where all the day-to-day business and decisions will take us. I wonder about the huge changes our family will see in the next ten years as kids leave home and babies grow up and future babies . . . come from grandbabies. I wonder about adventures and changes that we occasionally consider -- and how they would impact each kid individually. (There’s this longing in us that sometimes wants to switch things up – try new places and make changes that make no outward sense. But that longing butts up against the rather comfortable and very solid framework of . . . settled and known with their obvious benefits.)

Sigh. We shall have to let life play itself out I suppose.

In the meantime:

Jesse called to me from the basement yesterday. “Mom! Come see the Eye of Sauron I drew on the carpet!” Which is neither here not there, but one of those things you find unexpected to hear someone saying in a regular old day.

Also, I was talking to the two little girls about caterpillars recently. I asked them if they knew what a caterpillar turned into. Mette thought for a moment and then offered, “Uh. . . . A duck?”

The other day Abe picked a library book up off the table and exclaimed, “Mr. Darcy’s Diary??? What? Did Penny check this out? Terrible. . . .” Then, after a pause to consider, he added, “Mr. Collins’ Diary on the other hand . . .”.

Smart alec. :)

And that is all.