Ah, the Fabulous Age of Four

Isn't it so fun to go the birthday parties of your friends' children? The friends you've known since before any of you had even the slightest notion of motherhood? And you walk around the party and realize how much your life has changed in just a few short years; engagements and marriages (for them, of course, not me! *wink*), and then babies and even second babies.

And then all of a sudden your nostalgic bubble is broken by the sound of your four year old's meltdown about having to leave the party early. It never fails. No matter how hard I try to plan around my work schedule, we always have to leave something before it's over so that I can get to work on time. As you can imagine, my need to get to work in a timely fashion does not jive at all with his need to chase other small boys around someone's backyard for another 5 minutes 1hour for the rest of all eternity. Nothing in my bag of tricks could convince him to walk out the door without hysterics and loud string of "I'M SORRY'S". That's right, my sweet boy...never forget your good manners, even in a crisis situation!

This won't happen when he's twelve, right? Please keep reminding me that the day will come when he won't shove his whole fist in his mouth and start wailing at the words "It's time to go..."