Wednesday, June 29, 2011

Big Girl



Today Annaliese asked me if I liked working at the store. I said I did. Then she asked me what I did there, and so I told her.

Wehn Caspian fell out of his chair (definitely my child), she ran over to pat his back, call him sweetie, give him hugs and sweet cheek kisses, and tell him he could come to her party (no parties planned, but ultimate sign of favor).

When I told her I was sorry for being late to pick her up yesterday, she listened until I was done speaking, then shrugged and said, "that's okay, Mommy."

She is up for swim classes, dance lessons, parties of all kinds, anywhere, at any time. Trips, adventures, walks, church, working at the store. Lately she has taken to appearing at my side when I am working in the garden or making dinner and asking (I swear) "How can I help?"

She is three, four in January, the baby I learned on, the toddler for about five minutes, and now she is hitting her stride, being the kid she's wanted to be since Day One, and she is just so awesome.





Saturday, June 25, 2011

Nonni's en route to our town

The kids are off killing chickens with K, which led to this overheard conversation this morning "Do you WANT to go kill chickens?" "Yes Daddy." "Then put your shoes on."

I'm at work, where I have been too much this week. Manager's on vacation and I had to fire someone yesterday. Fun for me!

But Nonni is coming, and it's rained, and my sweetheart made 24 beautiful quarts of dill pickles yesterday. My kids are beautiful and funny and my zinnias have started blooming.

Cheers!


Tuesday, June 14, 2011

the way I want things to be.

Last night, it rained. We've had very hot and dry weather-- 100 degrees, blazing sun, no rain whatsoever-- for 3 weeks, so it was a big deal. The kids and I rushed inside and watched the storm beating against the windows and drank hot chocolate and talked about the trees and the grass gobbling up the water like we were gobbling up hot chocolate.

then i, hitting a wall after 10 hours of continuous motion, told them i needed to lie down for a little bit, and could they play together please?

they came in my room two minutes later. annaliese chattered next to the bed about random things while caspian fed me grapes. it was actually pretty relaxing.

we all slept like logs, windows open and the first cool night air in forever floating through the house. i woke up early on my own, about 6, and it was incredibly refreshing to lie dreamily, listening to the chickens and the birds and the general sounds of morning. it made me realize how much i miss the houses i grew up in, my mom's of course, also my grandmother's in pennsylvania, houses that didn't even have air-conditioning and relied heavily on screen doors and windows and fans to bring the invariably cool night air into the house.

i felt like a lid had been taken off the top of my head. like a box compressing my shoulders had fallen away.

i don't like how much we're inside here.

Thursday, June 09, 2011

Caspian, Age Two


Caspian's two now. He's still in diapers. Yesterday I asked him if he was going to start going in the potty soon like a big boy, and he said, No. I pee in pants. And yep, he does.

Maybe because he is the youngest, or a boy, or Annaliese is such a diva, but even as his mother, it's easy to underestimate Caspian. He's the baby. He still likes his Sassy, as he calls his pacifier. He still pees in pants.

But he's a smart little fellah.



I've noticed in the last month that he's talking more, sentences, questions, with dubious enunciation, but if you can translate through the baby voice, he's really damn funny. He likes to tell Annaliese that he's in Nana's class. He's not. Annaliese is, but he's in the class below, and he knows this. He tells her over and over that he is in Nana's class until she starts screaming that he's not, he's not, and appeals to me. Then he smiles.

Two days ago we were talking to Nonni in the phone and she asked how old he is now. He knows he's two. But he said with a big grin, "I'm thwee!" and giggled.

He likes to skip the number 4, when counting. He likes the Wheels on the Bus sing, and makes all the motions. He likes to sing along to the alphabet, and he sings out the for letters he knows ("PEEEE") clearly and with pride. He likes to give kisses, and hugs, and pat the side of my face when I play at being sad and say "it's awight, Mama."

He loves to be outside and is super-independent, walking up to the house from the garden just because he wants to. He likes feeding the chickens and wandering around outside. We need to get this boy a farm.

He also, gratifyingly, is like me in small and strange ways: he loves soup (says YUMMY when he eats it and nods approvingly.) He loves hot tea. He likes having his back rubbed, is a big cuddler, prefers to go to bed earlier than his sister does, though she keeps him up playing until I lay down the law.



When K comes home, Caspian is the one yelling DADDY! and running for a hug.

Just like I knew he was even before he got here, he is is a big brawny good-looking kid with a good heart. I think he's going to be stunningly handsome.




But for right now, he's my sweetheart boy, little brother extraordinare, the apple of his daddy's eye.

Thursday, June 02, 2011

2 years, 5 years, where do you start?



We are not old by any means, but after you know someone for a decade and have babies with them, it's kinda striking how old you're becoming.

We have Financial Documents and a station wagon and plan beach vacations and take our daughter to dance lessons and set up birthday parties and Annaliese has her first dentist appointment next Wednesday and when, exactly, did our life, which used to consist of decadent weekends amidst the long slog of term papers and finals, become so... here?

We always planned this. Kids, dogs, garden, chickens.

But it's pretty fun to step back sometimes and go, Wow. Just because we wanted it all, here it is.

Caspian turns two tomorrow morning, sometimes around 8:30am. Which means two years ago right now, I was making tea and about to write in my journal, not really knowing that I would labor all night alone with only an Ian Rankin novel for company, into the dawn on the porch, and finally call the midwives after taking a bath and washing my hair at six am.

I am going to save Caspian Pierce's birthday post for tomorrow. This one's for me and sweetie McSweetie. The one I always thought was really cute.

Go us.



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