growing up

Our little posse is growing up. Brother Bear turned four months old on Friday and is wowing the rest of us with his changes. He's super chatty; this is a good thing in a family where it's hard to get a word in edgewise, especially with Happy Sad as a sister. She and he are starting to interact more. Happy loves to bring him special toys and babies.


She pushes him in the swing and the stroller and loves to set herself up for him to grab her hair. She then promptly says, Mom! Baby Brother grabbed my hair! with her best actress voice, all full of kid like tattletale tone. Luckily she keeps the smile on her face. We both know she's kinda kidding.


She is growing up in so many ways. While she continues to have her Sad moments, she is getting more advanced at articulating the source of her discontent. Like the other day when I asked her to stop jumping on the bed so close to brother's head she said, No! You can't talk to me that way. You have to go back in Gran's belly now. Alright then.

We also have a new game we play with incredible frequency. She's Galinda and I'm Elphaba and we are two characters based on the show Wicked. She's learned some of the songs (anything, anything to get us moved on from, "Free to Be You and Me"...) because I figured all the dialogue and melodrama would appeal to her. You betcha. But now she says things to me like, Elphie, now that we're friends, I'm going to teach you how to be popular. How do I explain that one to the preschool teacher?

And speaking of preschool, HomeSlice hits the books tomorrow. She is so ready. And I've been saying I'm so ready too, but the whole pacakage kinda hit me today. She's gonna be in school full time for the next forever. I'm gonna be back at work. Sol's gonna be buckin' the bottle. Dad's gonna be the new BMOC.

My emotions were all over the place today. One second I was in full on teacher mode, ready with cool, creative ideas and back-to-school zeal. The next I was squeezing Elie way too tight, telling her proud I was of how she's growing up. Then I was on my belly head to head with little man, watching him flip himself over and scoot around like he's working the trenches in 'Nam. I would lean in to kiss the meaty apple of his cheek, his big, gummy grin beaming right back. He's my big, happy, handsome boy. I can't get enough.

Our little unit opted for a staycation this weekend. We toyed with going away to the hot springs but after we realized how hard it was for us to pack everything just to get a mile up the road to the snazzy new park, we opted to stay local and hit the hot tub instead. Jeff's folks have been away since May and we haven't been up to their pad all summer. It was just what the doctor ordered. Time away from the piles of laundry and dust bunnies of our tiny abode. The planner books and back-to-school to do lists. Instead we just settled into a beauteous view and an empty fridge. The purpose excuse to go out to dinner. To not make any more mess.

Perhaps the greatest gift of my weekend was that Jeff decided to do the Costco/REI errand blech trip for me. Which meant I had all day Saturday with my children. And when Happy napped, brother and I had some awesome q.t. together. He loved the hot tub and tripped hard on the steam and bubbles. Then we found Elie's old jumpy thang and hooked it up. He is turning into such an expressive little guy and he loved floating and landing, spinning and swaying.


Then Brother napped and Happy and I played. She too loved the hot tub and is fearless in the water.


Later we watched a bit of The Sound of Music which happened to be on TV. I got all teary as we watched Maria run through the hills with the children, the silly sentiment of sharing her first view of this beautiful movie that was such a part of my childhood.

The whole scene reminded me of weekends when I was young. Hilary and I would play in the pool and spa. We'd then loaf around on my parent's bed and watch whatever old movies happened to be on cable. I realized yesterday that this is all I've really ever wanted. To be totally happy with my family. Two beautiful children. A husband who's the coolest. A beautiful view and clean air. It sounds so simple, but the whole weekend had this sort of serendipitous feeling, this special sparkle. I felt so supremely blessed to be in that gorgeous home with those three gorgeous humans. And one goofy dog. And my new, sassy haircut.

Tomorrow the kids arrive. Elie has her first day of school. Her lunch is all made and waiting for her in the fridge. We've talked about the routine of the day multiple times -- probably more for my sake than hers. Solomon will hang tough with his buddy and continue to explore his place in the world. We'll work hard and love hard and anticipate another weekend of regeneration time. Grow into our new flow.