Loving The Little Years

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I had seen the book, "Loving The Little Years" by Rachel Jankovic on book lists but hesitated to purchase it for two reasons; reason number one is that I am terribly in love with the little years and realizing sadly that the little ones grow really fast, I haven't wanted to make myself feel more sad about that fact. The other reason is that even though I love the little years, I also realize that my life is much different now than it was when I first joined MOMYS, with 5 young children. Although partly that means that I have much more help with household work, and I can actually take a shower without having to take an infant in the bathroom with me, it has come to also mean that I almost don't qualify for needing encouragement in parenting a bunch of tiny tots.

I did buy it though because there is someone in my life who most certainly does qualify for being in the midst of the "Little Years". That person is my sainted sister Jody. Due to a set of painful and yet God gifted circumstances, her family has been blessed with three small children all around the age of 2. She has trekked down to see me a few times with one of her older children and the three toddlers, and what an adventure she is having! Three adorable little faces to wash, diapers to change and six chubby legs to chase after. And chase we did, because with that many little ones, chances are they are not all going in the same direction.

Rachel Jankovic is a woman who is writing to this situation while right in the midst of the excitement. Her own crew includes twins, an infant and nary an adolescent. Pure little. She is still in the years of sleepless nights and showers which are a luxury of quiet. I wish I had seen her book when I was a young mother. It contains very good advice on parenting a large brood, simple things like not becoming angry over childish mistakes, just because there are so many at once. Finding a balance between being orderly and letting those little ones into the kitchen to help, realizing that their efforts aren't supposed to be perfect, they just need the chance to try. Our little ones are precious gifts and I appreciated Rachel's encouragement to me, my sainted sister, and all moms out there to savor the gift of parenting these little people.