Saturday, October 16, 2010

My Body Is Really A Wonderland

With apologies to the songwriter :) But yes, to my kids it is their own wonderland, strictly membership access only.

As I write this on my mobile, it is close to afternoon nap time. We spend winding down time in bed as it's easier for them to nod off. Oona sings to herself, reads her picture books or pops up with random questions, comments and stories to tell briefly before she sleeps. Olly practices standing up and maneuvering her body while gumming anything she can get her mouth around.

My place is between them. I lie in the middle of the bed or else they'd wind up playing together instead of winding down to sleep. And inevitably there would be crying because they accidentally hurt each other and they're too tired to be forgiving. Nevertheless, they both are doing their own thing snuggled up to me.

I become trampoline, bridge, jungle gym, monkey bars, swing set and bean bag. My head is Olly's activity ball with my eyes, ears, mouth, nose and hair to be poked, prodded, examined, peered at, pushed, pulled, pinched and slobbered over.

Of course there's the requisite love bites, head butts, flying kicks, elbow jabs, sucker punches and gut busting tackles the sweet little girls don't mean to hurt. I don't know if any little boy could be more rambunctious than these two!

It's like what my good friend Armin said when I was griping about not being able to wear heels anymore. She reminded me that we just traded one body ache for another. Wearing heels and carrying our babies are both bad for our backs and h*ll on our hips but we love 'em anyway.

Then, when they have finally expended all that energy and sleep claims their eyes, I am pillow, blanket and lovey with babies piled all over me. Did I mention I'm also teether, feeding bottle and nursing companion?

I am my children's wonderland.

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