May 10, 2013

Yesterday our youngest turned five, which is a big milestone.  It means that we are officially done with toddlerhood!  Not only that, it means that all four kids are in the “honeymoon years” (or so we’ve heard from other parents), the years between the ages of 5 and 12, the most fun years of raising kids.  Before age five there are all the trials that toddlers/preschoolers present to their parents, and at thirteen of course, adolescence rears its ugly head with all the challenges associated with raising teenagers.

Since there is six years between our oldest and youngest, we will only have two years when *all four* are in those special years, so I plan on savoring this time, really taking it all in.  So many parents with older kids have warned us that these special years go too quickly.  It is easy to be too busy to notice how great the kids really are right now.  I need to remind myself regularly to stop, look, and enjoy it.