I’ve been told stories about how as a young infant I loved being rocked or left in a swing. Stories like how I used to go to Tues/Thurs school at a church and that I would be put in the swing because that’s the only thing that would make me happy. A few hours later my mom would pick me up- I’d still be in the swing and have huge red marks on my legs from the seat. While I’m sure the lovely women watching over me took me out to feed and diaper me, I have no trouble seeing now that I probably was only happy in the swing, so that’s where they put me- very frequently.
As a teenager, I vividly remember many evenings where our family was all watching TV together in the living room and my mom would finally exclaim “Stop rocking!”. I LOVED the rocking chair. If I was sitting in the big, fancy La-Z-Boy, I was rocking in it. I much preferred it over sitting on the stationary couch.
Well, fast forward 20 years and I am a first time mom who has read all the “books”. There’s no way that I’m rocking my sweet Anderson to sleep- that would spoil him! Yes, I rocked while I nursed him to 14 months, but I was cautious to never actually rock him into deep sleep in fear that I would set in stone bad habits and have a child that needed rocking until he was in 4th grade. (Insert big roll-of-the-eyes here)
Well, along comes my sweet Everett. Tonight I rocked that little boy, one year old and all, into a deep sleep. The whole time I kept thinking to myself that I wanted to ingrain in my memory the smell of his freshly bathed hair, the feel of his sweat against my cheek, the weight of him on my chest, the rocking in the glider. It was Heaven. Literally Heaven. I couldn’t put him down. When I finally did, the sweet Baby (because that’s what he is to me!) sacked out on his back with his arms spread wide, which is totally unlike my little belly-sleeper.
Most nights I am jumping at the bit to put Everett in his crib and then have Anderson asleep. Tonight was different- I just wanted to rock and rock and rock.
Please, moms of “old” children- please tell me that you can still remember and FEEL those moments of rocking your babies. Because…if that Heavenly feeling fades, oh goodness, I don’t want time to move!
