This morning is a quiet, overcast day. No errands. Just the honor of stay at home mothering two little ones for a few hours. The peace is worth noticing. Caden-3yr and Seth-1yr are getting along, playing in the living room. I'm cleaning the kitchen and refilling sippie cups - again - when the thought hits me.  It's a beautiful thought.  For the first time in a long time, I might be able to slip into the bathroom for a few minutes all by myself. Nevermind that I don't know what I'll do in there. Maybe I'll find a lost lip gloss. I definitely won't clean. Those few minutes beckon. It's a huge luxury, waiting.

I step out of my shoes, leaving them in the kitchen.  I tiptoe off to the bathroom, shut the door silently, and don't turn on the light just in case that tips them off. I lock the door.  Then, with nothing else to do, I lie on the bathmat, close my eyes, and smile at the ceiling and thank God that the littlest ones are getting big enough for this to even begin to happen. 

It's not much. Two minutes, maybe three, but they are glorious minutes.  Then, Caden-3yr knocks on the door and says it's important. 

"What's important? What's wrong?" I ask from the bathmat.

"Umm.... someone needs to talk to you."

"So talk. I can hear you." I really didn't want to get up yet.

"It's not me.  It's... it's.... FARLO."  That's how Caden-3yr pronounces Charlo. And Charlo, y'all, is the cat.

"Charlo needs to talk to me?" 

"Yes. And it's important," Caden-3yr says.

Charlo rarely 'talks' unless it's first thing in the morning, so I doubt he's really needing to talk, but I get up anyway. I'm almost to the door when I hear the cat give a squeak. When I open the door, Caden-3yr is about to give him another little squeeze, just to ensure Charlo's compliance with the plan. 

"See Mom? It is important."

And it was. I sat on the floor outside the bathroom and Caden-3yr and I asked Charlo about his day and how he was doing and if he needed to talk anything over.  He didn't, of course, but seemed glad to have been asked.

Seth-1yr was dancing on the dining room table, and forcefully swinging the light fixture overhead back and forth. Very soon he'll be tall enough to hold on while he swings with it, if his brothers past examples are to be believed. 

Peace. A few years ago a description of this morning would have sounded like a headache, but not today.

And as Caden-3yr says, "it is important."