What's a year?

          Forgive me if I’m everywhere.

          I was just looking through old pictures. Our power is out. The kids are napping. Without the hum of electronics on standby and the quiet whirr of the aquarium, the house is utterly quiet except for the ticking clocks. I am sitting here alone in the silence and almost total darkness with my thoughts.

          And my phone.

          I started browsing through it, looking at months going on over a year of photos. You’d think, at this age, by this point in life, a year wouldn’t seem like much. But these photos show something different.

          What’s a year? The arrival of a third child. A pregnancy ending in bittersweet joy with a birth followed by extra doctors, panic, and a two week long NICU stay. Then nursing sessions, bottles, beginning to smile. Learning to hold things, learning to play, learning to crawl. It’s new teeth – six of them, in fact. It’s growing out of size after size of clothes and shoes. It’s crushed crackers completely covering our living room floor. It’s learning to stand, then to cruise, then starting to stand on your own. Then it’s a 4 mile walk on mama’s back, endless snuggles in her arms, and all of the kisses. All of them.

          What’s a year? A second child’s blossoming from baby into boy. It’s going down slides on your own, swinging on your own. It’s so very much mud. It’s becoming more social, more brave, more vocal. It's blocks and trucks and a giant cardboard playhouse. It’s becoming a jokester who can make everyone laugh with seemingly little effort. It's your first haircut, first trip to the aquarium, first dental visit, first time going to church. It’s becoming best friend to a new brother and a big sister, all at once. It’s many trips to the zoo, the lake, and long journeys to visit family. Going to parks, going on walks, splashing through puddles, wading rivers, and hiking through mountains on your own two feet this year. It’s becoming the child who wants book after book after book at bedtime, and being indulged in every single one.

          What’s a year? A first child’s transformation from toddler into independent, inquisitive preschooler. It’s making countless new friends, joining new church groups, and engaging in conversation with anyone you happen across. It’s baking with mama, vacuuming with daddy, and making the most glorious couch cushion forts with your little brothers. It’s learning to count, learning to share, learning letters and numbers, learning colors, shapes, and places on the map. It's Play Doh, paint, and markers. And slime .. oh, the slime! It's creature powers, ponies, and "Octonauts: to your stations!" It’s the joy of an automatic carwash, the misfortune of a bad battery on your way home, and that feeling of safety that brand new tires can bring. It’s beginning to know what you want, and also what others want, and often even getting more satisfaction from helping others than from helping oneself. It’s becoming the most thoughtful little girl and making mama and daddy so proud. It’s coming up on your 4^th birthday … Your *fourth* birthday.

          What's a year? So much laughter, so many tears, so much joy, and endless love. 

          What a blessing to have all of this.