The Catwalk: Baby Training Zone

Michael and Bennett are back home. I learned this weekend that a quiet house can be rejuvenating, but at the same time feel extremely empty and lonely. It was just Hogan and I these past few days and it felt a lot like college when it was just him and I. Needless to say, I didn't like not having a husband or toddler around. They fill up such a huge part of my life. Well...they fill up most of it, really. Tonight I am blessed for the noise, the spaghetti thrown on the floor, the smell of boots being polished, and sweet kisses goodnight from our little boy. I have no idea what I'd do without my family. God is so good!

As I watched the boys play on the catwalk before bed, it dawned on me that all of Bennett's biggest milestones have happened on that catwalk. Michael refers to it as the "Baby Training Zone." That is the definite truth.

We cheered him on from the end of the catwalk when he was learning to crawl in March. We watched him brace himself on the half-wall when he was learning to stand in April. His first climb up the mini-step into the "Man Cave" shocked us in May. He practiced his walking in June.  Currently he isnow bolting back and forth with Hogan at his side as he gets faster and faster at running each day.

It's nothing but a long strip of carpeted area suspended high in the rafters of our home, but to me, that catwalk signifies how fast Bennett has grown up. Tonight as he turned to wave "bye-bye" to us as he walked down the catwalk to his room...I knew that the saying "they grow up so fast" was painfully true.

The catwalk is a piece of the house that I never want to leave behind. Although some day we might have to, I know I can keep the memories of the "Baby Training Zone" locked forever in my heart.