Loved, Safe, and Warm

It's a real wonder that our (almost) two and a half year old can climb the most challenging structure at the park, but calls us into her room every time her covers are off. I'm pretty sure it's technical term would be 'selective learning'.

Parents are always worried about their children being cold. No one wants to be the mom who shows up to a Halloween event with their newborn baby boy in a short sleeve shirt... in Pennsylvania. (Did that.)

If it wasn't against SIDS prevention rules, I'm fairly certain parents would cover their babies with 50 heavy blankets to prevent them from feeling a draft in their crib. It seems to be a part of the innate need to protect them. It extends to all levels of grandparents, too. The first time my grandma, my kids great-grandma, came to visit after our son was born, she told me he was probably cold roughly 14 times a day - something I would've taken to heart if she didn't regularly wear fleece in the summer.

I remember bringing our daughter home from the hospital on December 17. Our heat went out that night and as a first-time mom I was genuinely concerned for her comfort (and also quite irritated with our rental property). I thought about jumping ship and heading to a hotel for our daughters safety... or at least chewing the landlord out at 3 a.m. I did neither and settled for a safe, warm, (adorable), bundling.

One of the things I pray every night for our kids is that they would feel "loved, safe, and warm". I don't know why that became my habit, though I'd venture a guess that it started the night we brought our daughter home to no heat.

All of this is reasoning to back up the fact that, no matter what time of crack-of-dawn morning or just-fell-asleep middle of the night, when our little girls monitor brings her static, forlorn voice, "Naney tooooowd", one of her parents jumps from bed to go cover her up. Because all you want as a parent is for your kids to feel loved, safe, and warm.