Quiet Moments of Content

I remember that shortly after Annaliese turned one, parenting her became less of an endurance contest and more FUN. So has been the case with Caspian. We are enjoying the heck out of him right now; the lurching jointless walk, the bubble diaper butt, the chubby round cheeks, the way he claps with glee and talks endless streams of nonsense and when you ask for a kiss, he leans in softly with his wet perfect mouth open, proud of himself for accomplishing the wettest most delicious baby kisses ever.

He is using a spoon, a fork, a cup (messily, but hey!). He's walking. He's reading himself books in his crib and climbing on chairs and playing peekaboo with chubby starfish hands.

(Of course, he's also developing a toddler temper, and skirmishing with Annaliese over toys, and climbing onto the kitchen table and shredding my zinnias.)

Couple the deliciousness of Caspian with the joy that is two-and-a-half -year-old Annaliese, a little curly-haired girl who LOVES her dance class and stories about a giant butterfly and "Inkie Gadget" cartoons, and I am more and more sure that the light-hearted decision K and I made to have a family was absolutely the right one.

(It is NUTS though that the two of us are responsible for childhoods; that someday Annaliese and Caspian will sit around a table with their friends and say, "well, my parents, you know...")

K and I have closed our eyes to the expense of date nights and are going to the movies tomorrow night. The way this works is I ask Miss Margaret, who works at the childrens' nursery school, and she invariably says yes because we pay well and she's poor and she seems to like the kids a lot, and then I tell K that by the way, we're going out this Friday. And instead of worrying about the money he just says, "oh, great, what are we going to do?"

It's very mellow. I think we're going to see the Expendables. Those two facts are surely related.

The store is my pride and joy and my Achilles heel and my worry. However, I am indisputably learning a LOT-- it is life-changing to have the perspective of a business owner as opposed to a consumer. It is, as my mother says, good for me.

So! Big ole update! Pictures soon.