Admiring Ears

I patted Owen's back and stared at his ear. But instead of admiring how perfect it was, I was thinking about how big it was. His ear was far too big for me to be still standing over him and patting his back, trying to coax him into sleeping long enough for me to recharge.

It reminded me of when I was standing over him in my parents dining room. He was only one month old, swaddled, and laying on his side while I tried to pat him to sleep in the cradle that my parents had put downstairs to make life easier for me.

Easier for me? I was trying to get a one month old to sleep while a one year old wandered around my parents house, thrilled that I was finally otherwise occuppied.

While I patted his tiny one month old back and looked at his tiny one month old ear, I dreamt of the time when he would be 2 and she would be 3 and getting him to sleep would be so much easier. Life would be so much easier.

Yeah right, I thought as I patted his two year old back and stared at his gigantic two year old ear, and laughed at myself for thinking things would be any easier. But I guess thats the difference between now and two years ago. Two years ago I probably was crying because my son wouldn't go to sleep. And now I can laugh because I know that he eventually will.