My three oldest are going around the house now with a bucket and three wash clothes cleaning the floors, table, glass doors, and walls....all with the same cloth....we have a dog and a cat and three heads of long hair.....there will be hair over all these surfaces! Do I let them, knowing that when they are done and not watching that I will have to go back and clean everything after them....yes, because they are working together, not fighting, and in the pursuit of a dollar. And who cares if my house is really clean or not, it never is anyways!

Today my baby boy turns 18 months old....and as I have learned in the past, this is precisely the age that the terrible twos start! Although I have never been one to call them terrible but others who observe do. This age is when they really learn they have a voice and a will and they learn to vocalize and protest, all in a step towards independence. Man, does my little boy love me! If he could, he would mesh his body into mine and we would become one. His favorite thing to do with me is for me to lay on the bed or floor, he crawls all over me and just presses his head into my body just trying to get as close as physically possible. Pure love. He is developing a strong attachment now to his dada and calls his name out all day even when John is not here. He wants John to put him down for his afternoon nap since his shoulder seems way more comfy than me. his nursing is down to naptime, bedtime, and once early in the morning and most days, he has been falling asleep for his nap with out needing me...it is all so bittersweet. My last nursling is growing out of his need for me. Madeline was the oldest to wean at 22 months and I have always said that I won't go over age two and I still hold to that. I see that his reliance on it now is for closeness and comfort and I certainly give him a lot of that outside of nursing. Anyways, I know our days of nursing are coming to a peaceful close and I am not as sad as I thought I would be, more excited about what the future holds for him and our family.

There are so many trips and places that we long to travel too that are better suited for not having a baby; plane trips, cruises, hikes, river trips, moutain climbing, etc. Especially because he does not sit still for anything and refuses to be held down! he is in constant motion at full speed! We do so much now but know that as he gets older, our experiences will expand to so much more and I can't wait!