wow

This, I just had to share. Tonight, my little family went up to Cody's parents' house. Toni & Todd and family are in town to finalize a few things with their house, so after we spent the entire lovely day outside doing yard-work, we went up for dinner. It was a fun time and the kids very much enjoyed playing with their cousins. Here is the amazing part. We ate dinner and then sat at the island and talked... and talked... and talked. Our kids were so happy playing, that I was able to sit there for probably an hour and a half and chat. This is a milestone in my eyes.

My kids are getting older. Seeing as Cody has 4 siblings, I have seen this happen - I have seen people sitting around talking while their children play, and they didn't have to be constantly interrupted with diaper changes, and any of a hundred other requests that tiny children tend to make. It usually happened to me that I would sit, try to be part of a conversation, and as soon as it would get good, I'd be called off to handle some emergency, put out some (figurative, usually) fire, etc. Or, conversely, I wouldn't get involved in the conversation at all because I knew I would just be disgruntled when I had to leave it.

Tonight, they played. They were well behaved. They had fun. Tonight, I talked, I visited, I held an actual adult conversation that lasted more than 20 seconds without interruption. I had fun.

My kids are getting older. My kids are becoming a little more self-reliant. I can see it in the little things every day. Tonight it stood out for some reason. It was really lovely.