the salad days

My beloved sometimes refers to this season of our family life as "the salad days."  He means it like Nicholas Cage's character in the movie Raising Arizona does -- the happy days -- but every time he says it I always wonder about dessert.

To be sure, these days of early childhood are probably the simplest our family life will be for a while to come in terms of schedules and interpersonal matters both within the family and with those we encounter when we venture out in the world, until at least the bambini are grown and on their own.  They're definitely the sweetest, especially when Mama receives "96,000 kisses" from the younger lad.  There are some considerable logistical considerations of having four young children, however, three of whom still very much dependent on adults to tend to their physical and emotional needs, that are all-consuming -- at least for Mama.

Though the expression "salad days" is also defined as "a period of youthful inexperience"  (along the same vein as someone who might be called "green" or inexperienced), I can think of another term for it, at least in my case: survival mode.

I've heard mothers who've "been there" and "done that" caring for multiple young children refer to the weeks and months after the arrival of the newest child one as those in which everyone is in "survival mode".  This means our expectations are such that we're not trying to mount ambitious projects or take on other things -- our focus is on taking care of each other and getting through the day with a minimum of fisticuffs, bonks, sniffles, and droughts of drinkable yogurt.
 
I've been told things *do* get easier as the bambini get older and a little more self-sufficient (at least logistically), but then there are new issues to be addressed -- often much weightier, at least emotionally, if maybe not so physically taxing, and there are other kinds of logistics to wade through.

Each day is a gift.  We have no promise of tomorrow.  Instead of just surviving, we aim to thrive.  These days that means baking cookies, reading books, and changing diapers.  The days of getting in a car and driving away without first buckling four car seats are coming, though.  As sweet as these days are (for the most part), God willing they'll keep getting better...