As the wind blows, so do my children grow

Last night, my youngest son was having a difficult time settling down for bed. The wind outside was fierce, whipping the tree limbs so they knocked against each other and rattling the window panes. To help him calm down, I sat on the bed and rocked him. He curled up in my lap and asked me to sing him a lullaby. Every time I came to the end of the song, he asked me to repeat it, over and over and over again.

After about 30 minutes, my poor voice was going hoarse and my back ached from rocking a 2-year-old without any support from an actual chair. I really didn't want to put him down though. He's growing up so fast and so rarely wants to be rocked and sung to anymore. His soft little face was pressed into my neck and his still-chubby arms were locked around my shoulders.

But it was bed time and my arms were giving out and my back was starting to seriously protest. As I gave him his final hugs and kisses and rocked him one last time, he had one more request for me, "Mommy, you turn the wind off?" 

Oh, if only I had the power to make the wind quiet when it was time for my children to sleep, and to keep my children from growing up so fast every day they are awake.