One of the best things for me is going into the room, after any one of my kids naps, and seeing them fully rested with a huge smile on their face. Times that by two…well you have just made my fricking day!
Although Rayna takes 2 more naps than Caiden, they have now synced to taking one nap around the same time. That synchronized nap gives me about an hour to do something I need, laundary, broom or mop, or write a post here. But the beauty of that nap isn’t in the quiet time I realized.
Ok ok…that’s not totally true, as much as I insanely love my kids, one quiet hour is super nice.
What I realized is that when the kids wake up, from a good nap, they wake up with no tears and big smiles…rejuvenated and ready for more discovery and play.
Nowadays when they have this full nap, I find that I hear laughter coming from the main bedroom…I sometimes put Caiden in the big bed in my room for a nap, and Rayna’s crib resides in our room.
As I approach the room I can hear little voices and giggles. I open the door slightly and see Caiden is standing by the crib, talking to his sister, or sometimes in my bed and just talking to her from there. Rayna is alert, sitting up and giggling and baby-talking back. Sometimes they are talking and sometimes Caiden is singing and Rayna is clapping and cheering him on.
I stand there in silence, basking it all in. This is so beautiful to witness. They are so little sometimes we discount their awareness of each other and that they are developing their own special bond and connection. Their bond will grow, in time, face its challenges and so forth, but it has started.
Once they see me, Caiden usually says “oh hi mom” and I join in. I see they are both happily greeting me and its moments like this that make me realize…geesh…this is what it’s all about.
These tender, precious, quiet, moments where you see innocent children interactions (no screaming, fighting and pouncing), is the beauty of raising siblings. I love it. Somedays it is tough and you want so badly to do right by them and raise them to be happy kids. So when you witness their happy faces, without you being the sole cause, it warms the very inner core to the max.
All the anticipation of adding to the family, it’s so worth it. I mean we wanted Caiden to have a sibling and this is really what, to us, having a family is all about.
Xoxo
