I love my kids. I love that they want to be around me, but....can they not be so close that I literally trip over them as I walk through the house? One day I am going to set up the video camera so you can see that I am not exaggerating when I say that they follow me everywhere. My 2 youngest are the worst. They are on my heals as I walk from the kitchen, into the laundry room (which is not a big space. why even follow me in there?), back to the kitchen, the sunroom, the eating area, the kitchen. (I spend a lot of time in the kitchen). In our house, all of these areas are connected mostly in one big space. Even if they can't see me, they can hear me, so why do they need to be on top of me?

My husband was reminding me last night as I was complaining about this that one day it won't be like this and then I'll be complaining about that. I know he's probably right. Although, I am still holding out hope that our family will always be close and will never experience typical teenage/parental relationships filled with noncommunication and brooding.

I want them to be independent but don't want them to not want me. Does that make sense? Can I have my cake and eat it too? My kids have been described as little ducklings following their mother, all in a row. I feel like a mother duck. How long do ducklings stay with their moms? Once they've left, do baby ducks ever come back to visit the mommy duck?

Grace told me recently that when she grows up, she's going to go to the same church as me and live in the same neighborhood as me. That sounds good to me. That sounds like a good level of separation. I remember my husband's youngest sister (who is 14 years his junior) saying at one point, that she and her husband were going to live in her room in her parents' house and that once she had kids, they were going to live there too and that her mom was going to take care of her kids. Granted that she was probably about 13 at the time, but still. Love you Ker! :)

My kids see how we don't live near either of our parents. Mine live in FL and my husband's in AL. I am glad that they can recognize that separation and don't want it for our family. The older my husband and I have gotten, the more important it is to us to be near family. Our life is here now though, and our family's are no where near each other. I do hope family is always as important to our kids as it is to their little selves now.

All that said, I'd still like to be able to freely walk around my own, normal sized house. It's not like we live in a mansion with multiple wings where it's easy and possible to get lost or loose me.