Trajectories.

Sometimes I talk about my kids and I think, “Holy shit, I have two kids.” When Sonja was a baby, I used to think, “Holy shit, I’m a Mom.” I've grown used to the idea of motherhood, now it's the reality of my kids' existence that blows me away. 

As a friend pointed out today, once you start referring to them as kids and not babies, you realize that they are their own little people, out there in the world, separate from you; they’re on their own trajectories and all you can hope is to guide them a little. 

More than that, you hope they'll let you.