An early Mother's Day Gift

If I don't write this now, I am afraid I will forget it, so here it goes. Tonight I was able to put Eli to bed before Caleb- I think this might be the first time that has happened since Eli was born (almost a year ago). As of late, Caleb has not been napping, pushing his bedtime to sometime between 7 and 8. Today, however, wonder of wonders, he napped! So, Eli, not being the great napper today, was ready for bed earlier than his usual, which allowed me to have some alone time with Caleb. So, after allowing Caleb to watch a bit of TV and taking some time myself to check the computer (I am ashamed to say that, as I obviously was not appreciating the alone time with Caleb for the precious and rare gift that it is), Caleb asked for a snack. He requested those "O" shaped cereals (you have to picture him making an O with his fingers too- it's just a 3 year old thing!). Side note: Kroger had a special on Fruit Loops and I bought a box as a special treat. As a mother of a child with food allergies, there are soooo many things I have to restrict in C's diet - imagine, no M&M's, no ice cream, no cheese- well, regular cheese anyway, no Reese's eggs, no PB&J, no McDonald's french fries and the list goes on and on. So, for my child to be able to eat Fruit Loops, well, by golly I am going to allow him too! And again, wonder of wonders, Caleb ate all his supper (100% whole wheat pizza with vegan cheese, carrots and cooked apples- ah, there's the dietitian/mother in me!) tonight with a good attitude, so he was fully entitled to a snack. (Um, in our house, if you don't eat your food at your meal, you are not allowed to have a snack later- well, most of the time anyway!.) So back to the Fruit Loops. After telling Caleb that yes, since he ate a good supper he could have a snack and that the Fruit Loops sounded like such a great idea I thought I would have some too, we proceeded to the kitchen where I poured him a bowl. As I began to pour my own bowl Caleb said, "You can share some of mine." Had I heard right? Ah, the sweetness of it! My 3 year old, who loves Fruit Loops and rarely gets a bedtime snack, wants to share it with me- out of his own bowl! How sweet!! What mother would pass that up? I don't care if the boy had the stomach bug, I was definitely sharing that bowl of Fruit Loops with him!!! What an invitation!!! So we shared the yummy bowl and at my son's suggestion, had a second bowl. We played a little game of 'Guess what color the one that I just placed in your mouth is' (a game my mom played with me and my siblings when we were little, only I think we used M&M's and from what I remember, it was her way of eating our M&M's!). So after finishing our snack, we had to do our bedtime routine, which tonight included a book of Caleb's choosing. Wonder of wonders he dug out a book we haven't read in ages titled Let Me Hold You Longer, by Karen Kingsbury. Moms, if you have a son, this is a precious book! It is even more precious to me now having a second boy as I have realized how quickly time passes by and how quickly a child passes from baby to toddler to child (and I know preteen, teen, young adult and adult will quickly follow!). And not that I want to keep my babies as babies forever, but I do want to be fully present and appreciate each stage of their life, Lord willing! Well, in one part of the book the boy is in the car leaving for college and his parents are waving goodbye from the front door of his house and the dog is licking his face saying goodbye. So per his usual, Caleb begins to ask questions about where the boy is going and why the parents are doing what they are doing. When I tell him the boy is leaving for college, he of course asks "What's qwalidge?" I explain to him that it is somewhere you go to learn. After we discuss it for a minute I can sense a bit of apprehension in him and he asks, "Well, will you go with me?" Ohhhh, be still my heart.... I am not prepared to answer this- what do I say? So, as I have always thought, be honest and truthful. I reply, "Well, I can come and visit you." To which Caleb replies, "I don't want to go to qwalidge." I try to gently tell him that it is okay if he doesn't want to go, but that college is a good thing and that it's a fun thing to do and that he doesn't need to worry about it as you don't go to college until you are older. He then replies, "I don't ever want to go to college, I don't ever want to leave." I again try to reassure him and he says, "College is far away and I don't want to go far away." At this point I try to explain that not all colleges are far away, that he could in fact go to Vanderbilt (something my sister would no doubt fully support) which is right by where Daddy works and so we could see him all the time. I ask him if he knows what happened to me when I went away to college. When he asks, "What?" I reply, "I met your daddy at college and we fell in love." He seems a little bit reassured and asks if they have beds at college. He also asks if the dog is going with the boy to college. I explain that yes there are beds and no dogs are not allowed. We then finish the book and my mind is wondering, in 15 years, will you still be wanting me to go to college with you? I have to laugh, he probably won't even want me to go to orientation with him! He'll probably be unable to contain himself at the opportunity to fly from the roost! Then again, if he's still not wanting to go- what will my role be then? Hmmmmmmmm. For sure no one ever said parenting was easy. How thankful I am for my precious boy. I cannot believe he is 3! Each day brings new challenges, but also new and amazing joys. Thank you Lord for your gift- may I remember to cherish it!!!