Conversations with my Kid - The Benjamin Button Edition

I am rather emotional.

Tears often well in my eyes if I think too much about life stuff. And my kids are pretty accustomed to seeing their mama with tears in her eyes. They're also used to the response I give when they ask me why I'm crying...."My tears are happy tears honey. I'm just thinking about how much I love you guys and daddy and well, my heart can't hold it all so the love and happiness just overflows from my heart and comes out through my eyes."

When my oldest kid, Claire, was just 2 years old, I would tuck her in at night and stare at her captivating pale freckled face and just marvel at how her face had changed and how big she looked all of a sudden. I have often wondered when this growth occurs....I look at my kids all day long and I still can't catch growing in the act.

Often during those bedtimes, Claire would see those infamous mommy tears and she would ask in her 2-year-old voice, "Why you crying mama?" And I would say "I just love you honey and I love looking at how big you are getting."

And eventually, by the time she was 3 or so, she came up with this response -

"Don't worry mama. I'm gonna get bigger - 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 but THEN - I'm gonna start getting smaller again."

And I would smile.

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So last week I was tucking my girls into bed and kissing them goodnight and we were experiencing a peaceful bedtime vibe and Phoebe said she didn't want to get much older than 5. I smiled and told her 5 was an awesome age but so are the other ages she was gonna be.

Claire said, "Wouldn't it be cool if you started out old and then you got younger instead of older?"

And I said, "Yeah. A movie was actually made about that very thing. A guy who starts out old and gets younger."

Then I said - "Claire, when you were little, you used to tell me you were gonna get big and THEN you were gonna get smaller again."

And then Claire, in her old soul, knows just how to get to her mama, said, "I know Mama. I used to say that just to make you feel better about me getting big."

Sigh.

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I really do love this exercise of remembering and writing about conversations with my kids. And I love whoever cares to join in each week. Even if it's only one of you out there.

So if you're sharing a convo, post the link to your post in the Linky contraption below and I'll cruise by. I'll be the first to post a link to a kid conversation type post from a writer I greatly admire and who most always brings tears to my eyes. Check him out.

Have a great weekend!