"MOMMMMYYY, I NEED YOU"

One of the hardest things for me to deal with as a Mom is the sometimes frequent episodes of being called back into my kids rooms after they have been put to bed. The reasons are many. . .needing a drink, needing to go potty, the hall light needs to be turned off, my desk needs to be closed up, or I had a bad dream (when in fact no one had even gone to sleep yet). I think part of what makes this so challenging for me is that my introverted self has felt so starved during the course of the day that once the kids have been put to bed, I just relish the quiet and opportunity to process the day. So when I hear that "MOMMMMMMMYYYY, I NEED YOU!", it is like being yanked out of bed in the middle of the night (well, kind of). I'll be honest and say that there have been times, I have stormed into the kids' rooms after the second or third episode and VERY FIRMLY said "this is enough, now what do you need." But there are times like tonight, when I take a deep breath and say a quick prayer for the Lord to grant me more grace and head in calmly to find a little girl claiming she had a bad dream but who really just wants her mommy to lay next to her for a bit. Once there, she wraps her arm around mine and whispers, " I love you Mommy. . .is my hair tickling you?" She then goes on to tell me what boys chased her on the playground today and also to inform me that when she was younger her finger was only "this" long. I know the day will come when I'll miss these episodes, so I'll continue to pray for the grace to extend grace and enjoy the rich moments that often follow.