Needed...

Each night we have the same routine. {Routines keep me sane and I love them.} We give Tanner a bath, give him his milk, let him watch a few cartoons to wind down, brush our teeth and put on the night time diaper. All we normally have to say is go get Mr. Bear, it’s time to go night-night and he’ll run and find the bear, kiss his daddy good night and up the stairs him and I go. I sometimes hold his hand and other times he holds the rails and does it all by himself. When we finally reach his room, he runs to the recliner in his room, jumps up in it and we rock. This is the most precious time ever for me. While we rock we say his prayers and then I sing a few songs (I would never want myself to sing to me…poor Tanner). He normally falls asleep in my arms, but quickly wakes up when I stand up and he grabs a hold of my neck. He doesn’t want to leave his momma’s arms…that’ll make you feel like a million bucks. I lay him down and he immediately cries. Being the tough momma (not really) that I am, I shut his door and walk away. When I turn the monitor on I see him sitting there crying while holding Mr. Bear. {Our monitor has a screen where you can watch and talk to him} All I have to do each and every night, and sometimes during naptime, is ‘shhhh’ him on the monitor. My family thinks I’m crazy, but it works. All he needs is to hear his mom or dads voice gently shhh’ing him to sleep and he lays down and goes right to sleep. We’ve done this since he was a little baby and it always works. I don’t think the trick is in our shhh’ing or technique, but the reassurance of him hearing our voices over that monitor and he knows everything’s okay.

That led me to think the other night after I did that about how much he really needs me. I am needed by a lot of people. By my husband, my parents, my siblings, my friends, my many jobs, but the most important is that I’m needed by my son. That is how special being a mom really is.

He needs …

My comforting touch and caring arms

Momma’s love

Me to do the Umizoomi shake with him every time it’s on

Nutritious breakfast, lunch, dinner and snacks prepared by me daily

To see his parents love each other

Mom to rock him, even though he’s not a wee little baby anymore

Me to play with him and help him put puzzles together

For me to teach him about new things and explore what the world has to offer

Discipline from each of his parents

For his tears to be wiped away and boo boo’s to be kissed

A partner for the hot dog dance…who better than mom?!

My attention to be focused on him

For us to teach him about Jesus and take him to church on a regular basis

To hear ‘I love you’ a million times a day…and that’s just what we do!

Today at lunch. It was a dirty hot mess, but he enjoyed it =)

I know there are a lot of other things he needs, those are just a few. But as I write those down, I’m in awe of how much this little, almost 22 month old needs me. I always knew when I had a child I would be needed in a different light, but definitely not in this capacity. He needs me on all different levels…emotional, physical, and spiritual. The one thing that I know I will never fail at giving him is my love. He is most certainly my sunshine on a cloudy day. 

I hope you all had a great weekend! Ours was low-key and I enjoyed every second of it. Trevor decided that we’d all go to the grocery store on Sunday afternoon, instead of me going by myself. We were already out, so no need for me to go back out. I think he got a glimpse of why I go by myself now. He entertained Tanner by vroom vroom’ing in the buggy, going down the aisles fast and even a nice shoulder ride after he almost jumped out of the buggy. What can you do besides laugh? It was pretty funny {and fun for me to watch while I easily shopped}.

I wasn't even lying about the shoulder ride. In the freezer section of Bi-Lo. Nice. 

Enjoy the rest of your Monday! And if you’re a mom (or dad) take a moment to reflect on how much your child(ren) need you. It will make your day 10x better. Until next time…

Magan