Valentines and snow

Feb 13, 2014  Late morning, inches and inches of snow

Last friday was the father daughter dance so Joseay and I got dressed up and went.  Problem was,she had been a bit ill for a few days, but desperately wanted to go.  So we drove out there, I carried her in through the freezing wind to the Embassy Suites where there were hundreds of dads and daughters.  she had been asking about the desserts, or more specifically the sweets that we would have.  I didn’t understand until we got there that when I said Embassy suites, she was hearing Embassy Sweets.  Of course.  The viewpoint of a 4 year old  Excellent.  She was quite proud to be the little lady and see all the other girls there.  She held up for about an hour until she started crying on the dance floor.  She was exhausted.  So we made our way home and she fell very quickly asleep.  A memorable if not enjoyable night!

The next day, we had to clear out of our house as they were putting stain on the floors.  We stayed in Cleveland a couple of nights before relocating to the Goods for a couple of nights for round one of the snow.  But last night, we got back to our house and the bottom dropped out- inches and inches of snow that we have been outside playing in today.  It should all melt pretty quickly as the sun is out and expects to hit 40 today. But we will see. This is the storm that our kids will remember..

Expectant

December 25, 2013.  Quiet. Cold. Expectant.  Excited.

I was in bed this morning trying to think about how our kids were feeling. Or how they would be feeling in a few hours.  I remembered back to my childhood and for the first time in a long time, I could remember in great detail my childhood room.  The smell, the feel of the wallpaper, the crunch of the carpet.  But mostly the excitement of Christmas morning. It was the presents, the family, the fun, the food.  But mostly the expectation.  The thought of Christmas morning. The idea of it was almost more fun the actual morning.  Chris and I were driving the kids around looking at lights last night, and we said we just wanted one more week before Christmas.  As that came out of my mouth, I was struck with the contrast in how kids just ache for Christmas to be here.  They are pushing for Christmas to hurry while we adults are pushing back to enjoy the moments of expectation.  Of course, for all our pushing, there is no changing the inexorable march of time.  Christmas is here.  Or at least in my kids world, it will be here in a couple of hours.  I am up, with the Christmas tree lights on.  Looking at the tree, hanging out with the memories of my childhood, but mostly expectant.  Expectant for my kids to come crashing through the door as they make their memories.

Merry Christmas to all the kids and former kids out there.

Foggy

November 16, 2013.  Early, foggy.

This week was one of those weeks that you notice changes in your kids.  I know they are changing all the time, but I think we only see it in waves and even then, I think we always see it late.  That is we always think of them as being younger than they actually are.  We sort of ignore it until it is forced upon us, and then we notice all the changes that have happened since the last time we opened our eyes.  Perhaps we as parents would go a little nuts if we noticed the changes every single day.   

Normally, when we read to the kids, they fight over who gets to sit in my lap.  So we have a routine where Brown gets to sit in the lap at nap ("when there is sunshine") and Joseay gets the lap at night ("but its darktime, it is my turn").  That has worked well for quite some time.  So long that I guess I hoped it would be the same.  Until high school.  Or beyond.  So this world was shattered this week.  We were climbing in the reading chair after pajamas had been put on, teeth brushed, books picked out and I realized they were not jostling to get in my lap, but they were each trying to stay out of my lap.  They were fighting to not sit in my lap.  Oh misery.  Its hard to be animated reading Cat in the Hat when you want to cry.

Ok, maybe that is a bit of exaggeration because I am sure the next time I read, there will be good snuggling and we can pretend that they are not growing up.  But I have been served notice: This will not last forever.  Childhood, like the rest of life, is a vapor.  

The morning fog is very nice and even comforting this morning.  But the sun and the winds of change are coming soon.

Morning Fog

November 16, 2013.  Early, foggy.

This week was one of those weeks that you notice changes in your kids.  I know they are changing all the time, but I think we only see it in waves and even then, I think we always see it late.  That is we always think of them as being younger than they actually are.  We sort of ignore it until it is forced upon us, and then we notice all the changes that have happened since the last time we opened our eyes.  Perhaps we as parents would go a little nuts if we noticed the changes every single day.   

Normally, when we read to the kids, they fight over who gets to sit in my lap.  So we have a routine where Brown gets to sit in the lap at nap ("when there is sunshine") and Joseay gets the lap at night ("but its darktime, it is my turn").  That has worked well for quite some time.  So long that I guess I hoped it would be the same.  Until high school.  Or beyond.  So this world was shattered this week.  We were climbing in the reading chair after pajamas had been put on, teeth brushed, books picked out and I realized they were not jostling to get in my lap, but they were each trying to stay out of my lap.  They were fighting to not sit in my lap.  Oh misery.  Its hard to be animated reading Cat in the Hat when you want to cry.

Ok, maybe that is a bit of exageration because I am sure the next time I read, there will be good snuggling and we can pretend that they are not growing up.  But I have been served notice: This will not last forever.  Childhood, like the rest of life, is a vapor.  

The morning fog is very nice and even comforting this morning.  But the sun and the winds of change are coming soon.

Autumn Song

Have I mentioned the kids are growing up quickly?  Brown is taking such initiative, from simply grabbing his own food, to deciding where he wants to go, to simply making up his own games.  When I got home yesterday, he insisted that I pull into the garage so that he could change my oil.  Then, we pulled mom’s car into the garage so it could be just like the oil change place that he had been to earlier in the day.  Then he and Joseay began to do all sorts of things, fill up the tires with air from the hose (an old rope) looking under the cars, opening the doors…

Joseay is certainly flowering more fully into herself which means we are getting a more full picture of her strong personality that has good and bad sides! She is so powerful.  I got this email from Chris the other day while I was at work: Thought you would enjoy this sweet song Joseay just made up when I was tucking her in for nap. I thought it might be God's favorite praise song He has heard all day: 
"God, I love youuuuuu. 
The sunshine is so pretty. 
The bees are so stingy. 
God loves us so much, much, much. 
He loves me so much."

So stingy. Awesome.

Home Barber

Well, I suppose it had to happen.  Is there anyone who gets through childhood without some sort of brush with this experience?  Chris and I were on a date, riding bikes to dinner.  We get a call from the babysitter which of course is never a good thing.  She says the kids were laughing really loud as she was cleaning the kitchen.  She went to see what was happening and this is what she found:

According to the kids, it was Joseay’s idea to have Brown cut her hair.  Luckily it was in the back and is really hard to tell and really, no harm done - though it did take Joseay 3 years to get her hair this long!

Pride on his face

So he has been riding a balance bike for about a year and a half, and has been peddling the little go cart around for a year or more.  So he has all the skills (pedaling and balancing).  But we just hadn’t taken the time to push him to ride a regular bike.  He is quite timid and so it was going to take some pushing to do this.  So I started jogging with him on the streets around our rental house at the beach as he peddled and pretty much just leaned on me as we motored around.  He had knee and elbow pads for the inevitable wipe out that was coming, but he never caught the fever.  So this went on for days.  One, day we were pretty much just playing in the surf.  I had pointed out several kids as they went by on the beach riding their bikes.  You could tell he was thinking, putting the pieces together.  But when his cousin and Nana got on their bikes and started down the beach, that was it.  He simply said, I want to ride my bike.  I said I would get his pads and all and he said, I don’t want them, just my helmet and shoes.  And with that, he put on his shoes, donned his helmet, got on his bike, and with a little push, he took off and that was that.  How proud we all were, including Brown.