I can hear DH upstairs pretending to stomp around like a monster, and the kids are shrieking with joy...

I am a snotty streaming mess too. At work. Wonderful.

My youngest just turned 9 on Friday. Where has the time gone.

Aaaand shakey's done it.

I'm so glad for you. X

Shakey there was a thread in Chat last week posted by someone who was worried that she doesn't love her son. Please please re-post what you just wrote on that thread. It's lovely.

So much bloody tree pollen down in the West, eyes streaming.

(Bumbles over to Shakey and envelops in huge soggy non-Mumsnetty hug)

Oh my goodness.
Well THAT was a waste of time, putting make up on five minutes ago.

Sob sob sob sob sob gulp gulp sob snort

ISpiderman...
We have a friend whose son is coming up 3 and also bilingual, it's lovely talking to him and it feels very much like a 'Franglais' existence. Not long ago he was desperate to play with a (too fragile and temperamental) helicopter that was the pride and joy of an older boy. I think one of my favourite phrases ever was when he looked at me wide-eyed in wonder and all wrapped up in a snowsuit and said 'Il vol! Dans le 'ky!' (sky)

Crying my eyes out now shakey

Giving DD2 (3.5) a squeeze and she is going "get off mummy!"

Shakey that is beautiful.

Dorothy completely undid me.

Mine is well documented on another thread but worth a share here (and you'll see why I'm very proud and emotional to share)

I had a really awful birth. On top of which I had never been maternal and getting pregnant was an accident. I wasn't a natural mother and completely struggled with everything when DS was a baby/toddler. I just never felt the love that seemingly, everyone else experienced when a baby was born. I hated myself for not "feeling" it. DS was clothed, fed, well looked after and cuddled but the cuddling was more out of "this is what I should be doing" rather than a spontaneous action/need/want.

Anyway, I had resigned myself to how it was. When he was 4, he was not quite tall enough to reach the lightpull in the loo, despite leaping about, trying his hardest. One day, he RAN into the kitchen, utterly radiant, could hardly get his words out. " I DID IT MUMMY! I DID IT! I REACHED THE LIGHT!!!"

And that was it. This...this...FORCE of feeling hit me and completely and literally FLOORED me. I fell to the floor in a heap, poleaxed. He came and put his arms round me and I held him and sobbed. And wailed. And held him. And loved him. And bawled. And held him. And utterly LOVED every fibre of his little, amazing being. And the weird thing was, he didn't mention anything about me falling. He just held on tight and cuddled. Then he looked at me and I swear if an expression could be translated into words, his would have been "It's ok, it's ok. I knew you'd get there eventually"

I cry every time I write this and am unendingly grateful. He's 7 now and we have a fabulous relationship going on

Fantastic thread...and definitely a mistake to read it at work! I haven't read the poem yet, I'll save it for later when I know that there is no chance of anyone walking in on me!

I said to DS (4.5) this morning that Grandma gives the best snuggles and he just shook his head. When I asked who did, he just pointed at me and then gave me the biggest squeeze ever

I do this silly thing where I say to DS 'do you know, I looked in the dictionary under 'best boy in the whole world' and there was a picture of YOU!'. Been doing it for years.

Anyway, last night he said to me 'I looked in the dictionary under 'most epic mother ever' and there was a picture of YOU!' Just because I'd made him some toast.

There may have been sniffing.

What a lovely thread.

and yes, fantastic thread, though reading it at work was a mistake

I had two of these moments this weekend.

One is that DS1 (3.8) was love-bombing me all weekend, saying how much he loves me, how I'm so pretty asking why I have a big tummy and clapping me saying "bravo mummy, magnifique mummy" (he's bilingual, not pretentious ). Every other sentence was about how much he loves me and it just melted my heart.

My second moment was that DS1 did a "dance" performance with his nursery school. Afterwards he was a bit overwhelmed with all the noise and people. DH picked him up and carried him out, snuggling him all the way. I really wanted to be with DS1 but waves of pride and love were radiating out from DH that I just watched them instead and tucked the memory away for later.

DH wasn't very close to DS1 when he was a baby but their relationship has just blossomed as time has gone by and I love watching them playing together.

Since having DD I've been so conscious of time passing too quickly. How two years have flown by I have no idea. She has gone from a teeny, squishy baby with rosebud lips and blueberry nose to a beautiful, tiny girl who warms my heart with her completely unbidden outpourings of happy. I never knew that hearing a little voice say 'Hello Mummy, up there' could make me so happy, or that her dancing around in the nuddy then pausing to hug me and say 'Love Mummy, Best friend' could stop me in my tracks. Her little voice saying 'Please...' makes me want to pull the stars out of the sky and give them too her, and if things aren't going so well her saying 'Try again...' is enough to reign in my grumpy feelings. It's impossible to articulate how much I love her, and all those little moments add up to a lifetime of overwhelming love.

Oh wow, what an amazing poem! Had me in tears. Thank you for posting it...

This morning, for the first time ever, DD didn't get up and climb into our bed. She climbed into her wee brother's and cuddled him awake. Listening to their chats and laughter through the wall, thinking about how they will be as they grow up together.

Gulp.

kitties that's lovely. What a lovely boy.

Oh goodness.

DD was snorting last week about at a friend whose puppy is apparently called Peepo. Her big brother (19) said thoughtfully, 'Why does that ring a bell? Something to do with bedtime?'

Peepo was the baby book we'd had to recite to him nightly when he was about 12-18 months. I started in on it from memory (ever tried reciting baby doggerel to a 6-ft teenager?), and he suddenly beamed at me, said 'I seem to have come over all sleepy' and put his head on my shoulder.

Gulp!

*blubbing

Haven't rtft yet but sitting here blabbing away with 7 month old daughter asleep on my lap after feeding. Promised myself I was going to put her in bed for her nap so I could get stuff done but life's too short!

Saw something that really brought home how fleeting it all is: Mum, Dad and a 2-3 year old in a restaurant. Dad asks DC "shall we have a round table, or a square one?".

We used to ask that question, back before the millennium.

We ate out last night and in a lull one of the kids pulled out paper and pens from his jacket and we did portraits of each other and a competition where two of us had to draw a cartoon character from memory. We laughed until we cried. It's one of the moments we will treasure. My three are age between 19-23. I get less hugs (one really hates being touched but will allow it on special occasions, the youngest still comes and hugs me without asking) but the love is still there :)

I had two of these moments last night.

It was our DD's 12 birthday yesterday and as a surprise we'd booked tables at her favorite restaurant and invited our closest family friends(they all call our children they're nephew's and nieces and the kids all treat each other like cousins)her little face when she saw them all and at the end of the meal she stood up and made a lovely speech thanking everyone.

She said thank you for all her lovely gifts and cards and said that she'll treasure them for ever and she told everyone that they'd all given her the best birthday ever because they'd all made her feel very loved by spending her birthday with her and she said that was something she'd never forget.Myself and a couple of the other Mum's may have looked a bit weepy after that but to be fair the guys all had the sniffles afterwards.

Then on the way back to the car my feet were killing me,beautiful shoes torture chamber for feet so I took my shoes off,it was raining and all 3 of our DS tried to get me to wear they're shoes because they were worried about my feet and our oldest kept offering me a Piggy back bless him.

Lovely evening with great friends and lovely kids

Well Kew please give us fair warning so that we can all stock up on tissues and ensure we're out of sight of others to read that thread!

This thread is making me look forward to the odd hug in teenage years - although I'm certainly stocking up on all these toddler cuddles while I can get 'em.