Stop And Watch The Bulldozers Because Babies Don't Keep.

If being a mother has taught me anything at all, it has taught me to slow down. To appreciate the smaller moments. To understand that babies really don't stay little for very long at all.

This may seem like an obvious realization to most but as I sit on the horizon of two very special little boys' birthdays, I can't help but feel like I've been hit with a ton of bricks.  
I can't tell you how many times I've been in the car, my two sweet little boys in tow, driving past a bulldozer or other construction truck, be it parked or in motion and almost immediately a tiny voice from the backseat sweetly demands, "turn around the car, mommy? I see a bulldozer!" 
And who am I to say no? It's not like our typical errands are any more important than blowing my toddler's little mind. So I do just that. I turn the car around and we find a place to park as we watch the bulldozer in action. And for the rest of the day? Maybe even into the next morning? It's all about that bulldozer we watched. Scooping, digging, lifting and building.  
Weather permitting, I try and take long walks with the boys every day. Not only does it tucker them out but fresh air is good for the soul, both big and small. On days where we spend the majority of the day outside? Bedtimes are easier and earlier. I have more patience, am more tolerant, say "yes" more and "no" less. But those walks? Take forever. In fact, I'm not even sure my heart rate ever gets above 70 because we're stopping so often. Stopping to drop small rocks down the drainage pipe covers. Stopping to pick up sticks, stopping to check out the bugs. Stopping to take a rest on a garden wall because stopping so much sure is exhausting. 

But I have to remind myself, one day, these boys aren't going to want to ride in the car with their mom while I run errands. "Quick trips" will be a thing of the past as they whine and refuse to take the five minute car ride with me to the grocery store. 
One day they won't willingly take walks with me. They'll be too big and too busy and too cool to do silly stuff like that with their mom. They'll be into boys things with their boy friends and there will be no girls allowed.

And lord knows, one day, I won't be the number one woman in their life. It may very well be a silly thing to think about while they're just shy of three and one years old but it's a fact that I will inevitable have to face and one that already pulls at my heartstrings. 
So for now? As that little hand slips thoughtlessly, seamlessly into mine and pulls me to a halt on our walk just to bend down to watch a line of ants march around a fallen leaf? You damn well know I'm stopping and bending. 
When that tiny voice asks to turn the car around, adding fifteen, maybe even twenty minutes onto our errand-running? You'd better believe I'm turning that car around and maybe even stopping for ice cream before we sit and watch those bulldozers do their thing. 
Because babies don't keep and before I know it? They'll be too big and too busy and too cool to do these things and this mama needs to soak it all in before then.