Innocence

Keeping my kids innocent for as long as possible has always been important to me. I feel like they are going to grow up really fast and be exposed to so many things in this world all too quickly. So I try really hard to shelter them and preserve their innocence. However, this is SO much harder to do after child #1!

Ryan has been slow to experience a lot of things. One memory in particular stands out to me. When we first moved here 2 years ago, Ryan was 4 years old. The boy behind us (who was probably 7 at the time) asked Ryan through the fence what kind of games he had. Ryan's answer? "Candyland and Chutes and Ladders". I thought that was SO sweet and I just loved his innocent little answer, since the boy was actually referring to video games.

There are so many other things we do to keep our kids innocent. We try not to say words like butt, but instead say bottom or tooty. We say toot instead of fart. We are very strict about the types of shows they can watch. Anything with crude or gross humor is off limits. Even SpongeBob!

When Lucas came along I could immediately tell it was going to be harder to shelter him. Just by nature of having an older sibling, he was exposed to things sooner. And now with Jenna, I already see her growing up way too quickly! At the age of 2 Ryan was watching Thomas the Train or Caillou. Jenna watches whatever her brothers are watching, and even sings the Star Wars theme song. And the other day she fell down and said "Mommy I fell on my butt!"

I realize I can't keep my kids innocent forever. But it still makes me a little sad to see Jenna doing all these things and saying things that Ryan didn't even do until this year. It's impossible to shelter her the way I did with Ryan. And baby #4? Well he's probably going to come out of the womb playing video games and telling butt jokes.