A sweet moment

Just had to share this moment I had tonight. Robin is having a hard time these last few nights - 2 year molars?  A slight cold?  Too much activity?  Who knows.  But she was really squirming and whimpery-sad tonight.  The only thing that worked was to offer to rock her.  She nearly never takes me up on it, but tonight she practically jumped in the rocking chair.  We rocked and rocked. Took her a few minutes to find her comfy spot - a cradle position.  Looking down at her, with one little hand up by her face, one under her chin clutching her little blankie, she looked *just* like she did as a newborn.

I totally relished in this moment, knowing that it is a complete privilege to parent and guide these individual souls on their way to personhood.  I get to hold her, so close, and comfort her in a way NO ONE will EVER be able to. Well, nearly never. I want to dribble on, but I'll just say I spent an extra 15 minutes just rocking her because I could.

And it was fulfilling.

Parenting is hard.  Really hard.  And we're only <5 years into the game.  However, there's a million moments in parenting that make it so worthwhile.  Watching you kid's wonder at blowing a dandelion.  Watching her taste her first raspberry. Helping her connect the dots in understanding how rain happens.  And our jobs as parents are complex.  Am I providing enough enrichment?  Enough creative downtime? Reading enough? Feeding them the right foods? Etc.  But rarely is parenting distilled into such a digestible package as this: holding a child close, calming her, watching her relax into a heavy sleep.  This, my friends, is a privilege.