Originally uploaded by lovegreendog.
I have been swept away in the summer sun. Days that push right by me and leave me tingling and sleepy. We have been to parks and beaches and outside our front door. Everyday that is dry we are out. I know what is around the corner, the weather that will soon keep us in. For now we are stocking up on playing out. Stealing as much sunshine as we can, wearing it on our faces as happy and healthy. The days are already a little shorter, school a few weeks away. The children can begin to imagine going back and seeing friends and packing lunches, snacks, catching the bus and can I go to the bike shop after homework?...These last days of summer are slipping through our hands the way the water spills out of the baby's little clenched fist. Trying to hold on, squealing at the beauty of it all, counting on the more that comes tomorrow.
And speaking of babies, none of them really are anymore. Sunday we will celebrate the middle one's 8th birthday, the smallest one is long out of diapers and has a mind of his own and is determined to let the world know he is here to conquer. The oldest will start seventh grade and we are at that place of wit, clever remarks, sarcasm and cheekiness - the kind she is daring to dole out but can not quite take in. That sensitive place of twelve years old where you try on your tough face and try to push away your mother. That place where the opposite sex is amazing and repulsive all at once.
No, they are not babies in their minds.
