Pausing for a bit.

The other day I left the baby napping at home with Mr. Maricucu while the boys and I visited the local museum of science. I don't know what it is about sibling dynamics but it doesn't matter how many kids you have, remove one from the equation and suddenly the leftover ones are totally different. I imagine a good bit has to be the parent who is used to running on all cylinders and hyper aware of what the kids are into suddenly feeling just a teensy bit more leisurely. I know it's going to get a little hectic in just a few months and this seems to be tradition to slow down with the kids a little more in preparation (or perhaps just a heavy dose of mama guilt after being so snappy and hormonal).

After walking around the exhibits we ended up in the discovery room which is hands on all the time. I caught my 4 year old staring out of the window wondering what had caught his eye in our pedestrian downtown area.




Ahhh, of course. A sandpit and construction vehicles are always a big hit. This is the intended site of a brand new nature center that will be a hit I'm sure.




Then both boys split up according to their personalities. My younger one found a little niche and plenty of puzzles. He delved right in and didn't move an inch.




While his older brother covered territory across the room and back. First a quick peek at the museum's bee hive.






Then the hide table to identify various animals.




Not five minutes later I saw this scene. Now as the mother of this child I find it highly entertaining that as a toddler he would cling to me for at least the first half of any new situation/location before attempting to explore on his own. I filled that need of his to have me play homebase but never did I imagine that he would walk up to a kid at a museum and just ask for help then introduce himself and ask her to be his friend. The little girl, a year or two older than him, graciously agreed.




And so they spent the rest of the afternoon side by side while I tried to keep my distance. Sniff. He's growing up.




Feeling just a bit unnecessary I went back to peek on my puzzle builder. Yup, still there.




I find it an entirely amazing and bittersweet process to watch the boys grow up so fast. I remember holding my oldest in arms, just barely a few days old and speaking to an aunt of mine over the phone. She asked me if I was smelling the top of his head and finding it hard to stop myself from kissing him. I shyly admitted that yes, yes I had. She replied, "Go ahead and kiss him some more. Snuggle him as much as you can because in the blink of an eye he will be grown up and moving fast. Enjoy this now." Truer words were never spoken.