I’ve felt a shift in motherhood, or I should say parenting (Justin and I have both felt this), where I’m doing less of the physical/exhausting part of raising children and more of the mental/life-skills part.

This is very apparent when I’m with my siblings who have younger children than mine. My brother and his wife have a 1-year-old, and my sister and her husband have a 2-year-old. We’ve gone on a few trips recently where we’re all together and their little ones require an adult to be monitoring or helping with a task, feeding a meal, soothing for nap time, and all the other things that go into caring for a toddler.

Meanwhile, my boys, 7 and 8, would be off riding their bikes in a safe neighborhood, and Emily (4) would likely be nearby but happily playing in her own make-believe world.
And Justin and I could sit. On a chair or a porch swing. And be there for more than 2 minutes.

And on a few occasions, we would look at each other and say, “we did it” and laugh because the toddler years are exhausting! We’re very much enjoying our kids growing up, and it’s great fun to do different things together like ride bikes, go to the movies, play card games, and more.

The challenge now is learning each of our children’s personalities and helping them adapt to and understand the world around them. We’re learning how they react to things, what makes them upset, and also what they absolutely love. The b...