I didn't really love the early years of parenting, and couldn't wait to get to the school years! Of course now that I am here, I am missing all sorts of little things about the earlier years.

I used to sing the kids a bunch of songs, like: You Are The Sunshine of my Life, Love is for the way you look at me., and Hush Little Baby... but now when I sing the kids these songs, they usually tell me to stop singing. I laugh it off, but my heart breaks a little bit when I think about how much they used to love being sung to sleep as toddlers! It was a lot of work at the time, but now I miss it.

My daughter just turned four, and when I ask her how much she loves me, she will always say, "100 million + 8." Then I will say, "I love 100 million + 9" and we will add 1 to our love until she runs out of numbers.

What stuff will you miss about the early years of parenting?