Lent

While February is normally a short month, it seems to have flown furiously fast this year. Perhaps it just melted away in all the snow that accumulated so uncharacteristically here in Baltimore. For me, seeing that it's nearly time to flip the page on the calendar makes me realize how quickly time is passing, and to look and see how quickly these children are growing, and growing up.

Since a little before Christmas, Patrick, our baby, has been sitting, crawling, and mobile enough to get nearly everywhere he wants to explore on his own. For a few weeks, now he has been not only standing up, but cruising and testing his balance by standing independently of the furniture, toys and people that he had been steadying himself on. It will not be long before he is running...

Liam's language has blossomed, or, rather, exploded lately. He has been able to use many words in context in complete sentences, and to express himself remarkably well for a 2 year old, but lately, his thoughts have been very sophisticated for his little body. He and Thomas were discussing the origins of people, stemming from a conversation we had about babies being gifts from God. Liam and Thomas properly applied this concept to include grandparents, parents, siblings, and friends, seeing each individual in their lives as a gift from God. Liam and Thomas have also learned the value of teamwork when it comes to convincing their mother that something is crucial, such as reading a certain story RIGHT NOW or letting the other out of their punishment because of sufficient exterior (or interior, but known only to their brother) signs of contrition.

Thomas is broaching increasingly complicated matters, such as death. These thoughts came from noticing a dead deer next to a road we travel to go to Friday Perpetual Adoration. We discussed the differences between alive but dying and in need of help, dead and in need of burial, and the differences between animals and people dying. He was especially insightful when he observed that when another friend's grandmother had died that she would need to be buried. We followed that conversation quickly with an explanation about funerals, and the grief that we feel when we are left behind when a loved one dies. He has a surprisingly nuanced understanding of these concepts now. I can't help but to think that he is so very grown up for a four-year-old.

Overall, time is passing quickly for us. I see children grow from invisible to not only visible, but very independent in their thoughts, words and deeds. (True, I do still assist in many menial tasks, such as dressing, and serving as their lavatory wench, but I do not usually mind it, since the young masters are so generous with their nuggets of child-wisdom, and genuine thanks and praise. I do not know anyone who has thanked me so sweetly for driving them to the grocery store, or sweeping the steps, or carrying a big basket of laundry before these boys have done it for me.) I have been trying to cherish these fleeting days, savoring them not for the frustrations that I cause myself by manufacturing long lists of tasks that I think I should be doing, but rather enjoying the things that I am doing.