My cousin, Barbara Bisset, said this to me at one of my baby showers when I was pregnant with Evelyn. It has seen me through sleepless nights, a fussy infant, endless attempts at potty training, and times when it feels like I've got all the parenting stuff backwards. EVERYTHING is a phase. This, too, will pass.
But right now that phrase is not so much a sigh of relief as a sigh of nostalgia. I've only been a parent for eight years, but I already know that the things they seem to do/say ALL the time...suddenly go away. EVERYTHING is a phase. Even the things you wish would go on forever. Such as:
The Nature Book Phase from this summer. Totally did it themselves.
(Projects like these are one of the many reasons SCOTCH TAPE is at such a premium at our house.)
The Book-Copying Phase. Again, all summer long, they would sit each evening (and sometimes on their own) while I read Laura Ingalls Wilder books and copy books. Yes, word for word. Page after page. Numbered, stapled, treasured.
Amelia at her desk copying a book.
(So THAT'S where the magnetic hide-a-key box is! Serving as Amelia's paperweight to keep her book flat as she copies.)
The Let's Make a Fort Phase. This phase comes and goes, and I will really sigh with nostalgia the day I realize it is gone forever. This was an umbrella fort:
The ever-popular blanket fort:
And the Make-Your-Own-Crown Phase. Evelyn had three other hearts on this crown--one each titled "Dad," "Mom," and "Sister." Well if that just doesn't turn me into a puddle.
Amelia's crown expressed her love for her current teacher, but the flash washed it out.
Yes, everything is a phase. The rough stuff comes and goes, and so much of everything else does, too. I will REALLY cry when they don't care for me to read aloud to them before bed; and when they feel compelled to do something ELSE on a wintry Friday night besides going to the MD Science Center with their mom; and when they stop yearning and begging to climb the trees in the front yard.
Yes. Everything is a phase.
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