i'll love you forever,i'll like you for always, as long as i'm living my babies you'll be. adapted from robert munsch's book, love you forever

my three and i, taken by my dear friend, shawn, this past weekend (thanks shawn...love ya pal).

my three... kiele: tweenish. smiling the way she thinks she's supposed to. my little mother hen. skyler: cute as can be, with the pigtails she begged to have for the photo. her happy, smiley self. ryder: sucking his thumb. a momma's boy. wearing the star wars shirt and tennies he begged to wear. me: a temporary single mom. missing steve. cherishing my three.

my three... they're growing up right before my eyes. no longer my babies, yet always my babies.

++++++

all three went to the dentist this past friday. ryder was the first one out and when i asked him how it went, he replied:

bad.

me: it went bad ryder? why? what happened? ryder: she said i have to stop sucking my thumb.

and he's taken it very seriously ever since. tonight was no exception. when it was time for bed, i laid down with him (as i always do...breaking that habit will come another day). ryder's thumb went in his mouth a few times and he'd say the same thing each time.

no sucking my thumbie.

and each time, with a determined, forceful yank, out came his thumb. at one point he told me that he wasn't going to be able to stop sucking his thumb. i told him he could and what a big boy he was...how proud i am of him for trying. and within minutes, he had fallen asleep, without sucking his thumb. this was the first time ever...falling asleep without his thumb. and a bittersweet moment for me. my last baby of my babies really is growing up. sigh.

if you're a parent and you haven't read love you forever, you must. in my opinion, it's a book every parent should have on the shelf.