THESE DAYS

I think it's been almost a solid year now that I've been saying, "this is such a good age" about the girls and how well they play together. These days they are 6.5 and 3.5 years old. I'm holding on to the hope that this stage will last for as long as possible; that is, the stage where they love playing together and will do so happily for hours.  Last week, after I got pushed out of their room where they were playing some elaborate pretend play with their horses, I marveled at how much they were content to play with each other without my oversight, and how different it was from even 1.5 years ago when Logan wouldn't let me leave her side, especially at the end of the day when we got home.  It used to be really difficult to transition into the evening after work, when we stumbled back home, with stories to tell each other but exhausted, eager for rest and cuddles, but also needing to clean up the kitchen, cook and get dinner on the table. It's not as if it's a breeze now, but the marked difference is that usually Sloane and Logan will take off running to their room and get zapped into their imaginary world, from which I have to pull them out of in order for them to eat dinner. Every other day there seems to be some conflict that comes up, usually within their play, i.e. some sort of disagreement about who will hold what or play which part, but they are at the point where I usually try to let them resolve it between themselves and they usually do, quickly. 

Logan used to wake me up very early and then insist that we don't do anymore sleeping or cuddling, but these past few months, she has been crawling into bed with me when she does wake up early to cuddle and go back to sleep until a more reasonable time, and I have been loving that so much.  The other morning, I was half-asleep when I pulled a warm body closer to me and thought, "Oh! I didn't realize Sloane came into bed this morning..." only to realize that it was actually Logan, but she had all of a sudden felt so much bigger to me as I noticed her long limbs.  She is growing so quickly.

I appreciate these two so very much these days.  They are thoughtful, imaginative, smart and so funny. They make life logistics more complicated but simplify everything else to its most important parts. I am so pleased to be able to get to know them a little more with each passing day; what a privilege.