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| Photo taken by Alison Fancher |
When I am feeling particularly punchy, and silly and surprised by all of the moments and details in my life that revolve around children you will find me proclaiming to anyone listening (usually said children or my husband) that I live in the land of the little people.
There are a lot of small details in the land of the little people. And small moments. Created by those sweet small people. They happen all. day. long (and there is nothing small about that!).
Funny thing is that when we named Aubrey we simply liked her name and hadn't agreed on anything else until her name popped into my head during the very early hours of labor. So we went with it on a whim, in the hospital, in the hours after she was born.
We had no idea what it meant and were ok with that.
By the time we signed the birth certificate and looked it up online I almost laughed out loud.
Aubrey
origin: French, meaning: ruler of the elves or little people
Haha. We still loved the name, but you must confess it seems oddly ironic!
Adding to the humor is that our last name happens to be "Littlewood".
We've gotten all sorts of renditions on this from well meaning and well joking individuals...Little-field, Little-tree, Small-wood, Wood-chip (Scott's nickname for a while).
Though I must say, my favorite may have been the four year old who, several weekends ago at my daughter's birthday party, blurted out, "Mrs. Hollywood! I need help with this NOW!"
She was spunky, that little one.
But, I must say, I like Mrs. Hollywood. My life feels so very un-Hollywood that I can almost think of nothing funnier and more appropriate to take on as a alter ego at this stage of life.
And so we are the Littlewoods, who live on Trentwood trail, in the land of the little people, currently ruled by Aubrey who determines the majority of our schedule at every waking and sleeping hour.
It's a crazy life that revolves around small pieces of toast, and little socks, and small hands that just figured out how to lift the toilet lid and splash around in the water. Those little hands are also attempting to scale stairs, open drawers and cabinets and yank on strands of her older sisters' hair when she can get a handful.
There are two other littles in the house who are getting surprisingly big. Their legs are getting longer right before my very eyes and their hands are so much bigger now. It makes my mommy heart lurch just to think about it. They can swing on swings by themselves and even stir pancake batter.
Just this morning, as they were all cuddled in our bed at 7:02, an hour much earlier than we would have liked, but surprisingly acceptable in the land of little people, I looked at Ella (my middle child) and said..."Ella! Stop growing! When did you and your sister go from this (I point to Aubrey) to this (I put my hand on the top of her head and tousle her hair and then look over to wink at Ava).
She smiles big and her round eyes glisten as she shrugs and says, "I dunno."
I don't know either. It all happens so fast!
And while it can all sometimes feel like a LOT of small details that can honestly sometimes feel a wee bit overwhelming, I have big hope.
I am hoping that the way Scott and I are choosing to handle the details, as small and many, and as relentless as they can be, will result in a big impact on their little hearts.
I am hoping that someday all of this growing and training in their lives right now will have a big impact in their small corners of the world wherever that may be.
We'll probably realize then that so much of our lives now was not so small after all.
This post is part of 5 Minute Fridays hosted by Lisa Jo Baker. To read more posts like this or to learn more about 5 Minute Fridays click
Love this post! Great reminder.
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