Privacy Lost

My grandmother loves to tell the story of the successful business woman who was telling women that she came up with all of her best ideas while she relaxed in her bathroom with the door closed. As soon as she uttered this statement, the rest of the women in the room knew that she did not have any kids. Grandma has a tendency to repeat her stories often, but this one definitely resonated with me. Any mother with children of a certain age knows that a shut door does nothing except beckon their children in. The bathroom is no exception, and in fact seems to be my children's Mecca. Rebecca once pulled up a stool directly in front of me and sat down with a bowl of cereal and just watched me. Seriously?! She acted like she was at the movies. Conveniently for Maddie, my bathtub has a step which she has claimed as her own personal seat. Naturally, the company alone is not the problem. But watching turns in to The Questions and The Comments. Yes, many of life's lessons are learned in the bathrooms of our house.
The girls have also taken things a step further and have continued their invasion on all bastions of privacy on my body. Rebecca has recently, yes recently, developed the habit of shaking one of my boobs while talking to me. Maddie thought that looked like so much fun that she shook the other one. Obviously this leads to talks about why this isn't okay and the eventual shriek of "Let go of my boobies," but just the fact that it needed to be said is beyond me. Madeline keeps running her hands all over my face, which would be cute and loving if it didn't happen with such frequency. And trying to sit down without someone climbing all over me? Impossible!
I know the day will come all to soon when my children are too wrapped up in their own lives to be so intimately involved in mine. These are times to swallow my frustration in the moment and thank God for children who are so secure in their love for me that they still see me as extensions of themselves. Times to thank Him for His blessings and just enjoy the closeness that we share with our little ones when they are this young.