bedtime stories

Judah kind of made me break into tears last night. He is no longer my little baby and I'm struggling to come to terms with that fact. 

Up until now, bedtime has been this extremely parent-initiated thing: we take him from whatever he's doing, we set the bedtime tone, we put him down to sleep. A couple of nights ago I asked Judah if he wanted to go "na-night", and he obviously stopped to think about it, cocking his head slightly to the side as he did so. Then, without any further hesitation, he ran into the bedroom and grabbed the crib rails, trying to hoist himself in. After I had placed him in there, prayed, and tucked him in with his bunny (who is named Bannister), he chose to go directly to sleep. I didn't hear a single peep out of him.

I decided to try asking him the question again last night - Joey wasn't around to witness the first one. "Judah, do you want to go na-night?" He immediately ran to Daddy, puckered his lips, and said "Mmmmmmm", waiting for his obligatory good-night kiss. After doing this to both Joey and myself, he ran into his room. This time he waited under the window and pointed at it as if to say "That needs to be closed before we can proceed". Joey scooped him up, closed the blind, and put him to bed. 

Oh my goodness, friends, my boy is growing up. My heart is ever so full. I'm beginning to realize that he's ready to have a little sibling - and I'm ready to dote on a little baby once more. He's moved on from solely depending on me to learning about the world on his own, making his own conclusions. 

I love being a mother so very, very much.