It's getting better

I am starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel. And by "tunnel" I mean the infancy stages of parenting.
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I know, I know. A lot of you just looooooove the newborn stage. I know, I know. A lot of you would trade the suddenly-stinky-armpit-8-year-old-stage for the yummy-baby-powder-smelling-6-month-old-stage any day. I know, I know. Those of you with nearly-grown children miss the days when they couldn't talk back and wore diapers instead of jeans that threaten to fall to their knees.
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All of parenting is hard.
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I know.
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But for us, the baby stage...well, as yummy as they smell, as cute as they are, as sweet as it all can be...it's just not for us. After two kids, we've figured this out. Give me the terrible twos, give me potty training, give me (even!) punching on the playground. I'll take it all over the absolutely endless and exhausting and repetitive days of diapers, bottles, 4:30 a.m. wake up calls, and nearly round the clock Small-Object-In-Mouth-Watch.
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Last night, we played Hide-and-Go-Seek. All of us. The four of us! We ran around the house in teams of 2, and we played! 18-month-old Aidan was my partner for most of it, and I revelled in his attempts at staying quiet as we hid behind the living room curtain. My whole body shook as I struggled to keep my own giggles in as he held his chubby little finger to his lips, copying my "Shhhh's!" And when it was our turn to seek, and he pressed his fat little face to the wall and grunted loud, repetitive sounds which were his attempts at counting, I can admit that I melted more than a little bit. And the look on 4-year-old Ben's face? Delight. Absolute, delicious delight.

A couple of weeks ago, we went to the beach. And we didn't have to carry Aidan around the entire time. We didn't have to keep him from eating sand. We didn't have to take turns "watching the baby" as the other parent got to play with the older brother. We actually all interacted, at the same time. We built sand castles together. We tossed the football around. We chased each other. We laughed. We played! The four of us!
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And lately, a peculiar thing has been happening at dinner time: the high chair has been pushed to a corner, the flying green baby food has been replaced with real people food, and all of us are actually able to consume our food at about the same time. About 50% of the time, the baby does not fall out of the "big boy chair," the brothers do not fight, and the adults can even sip a glass (or two) of wine. I think I even remember a night recently when Hubby and I actually talked (to each other!!) at dinner.
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It seems that something has shifted. It is very subtle, but we feel it.
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There are no more babies for us.
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We have a boy and a toddler. Two boys. Two boys who are finally playing together, laughing together, and even starting to conspire together. And we feel more like a family now than ever before. Hubby and I can breathe just a little bit more. We can sit a little bit more. We can sleep a little bit more. And we can play...play with both of our boys, all of us, together, as a family.