I started some blog posts in my drafts folder over the last few months, and then never got around to posting them, so decided to start from those before adding one for today at the end... An efficient, but untimely way of doing things.
Although hardly having anything to do with the kids (other than the fact that us having three of them demanding our time, attention and energy makes this story even more amazing to me), I thought it worth documenting that Steve and I completed a half marathon together in January. This marked my 5th half marathon in total (Austin - February 2015; Chicago Mag Mile - August 2015; Houston - January 2017; Houston - January 2018; Austin 3M - January 2018), and Steve's first.
I started running half marathons only because I found a friend and running partner who inspired me to do so and who ran nearly every mile with me in preparation for the big day. Other than a few long runs where we got a babysitter or had family in town, this one we each prepared for individually, which especially for Steve (so much harder when you are training for your first one), is a HUGE accomplishment.
It was super muggy and even rained on us during the last mile, but it was a huge accomplishment for us as individuals and as a couple. I am super appreciative to have a spouse that humors me in the things I want, and is willing to find a way to share it with me... especially when "it" is 13.1 miles.
Oh... AND we went to Canada for a Blackhawks game. (I went for work, but Steve joined for a little fun)
And we went to a Pink concert. And Hamilton. We have been busy (here is to having a group of people to call on when you need to leave your littles!)
Easter: 2018
I still have not gotten used to having Good Friday off.... law firms don't consider that a holiday, and even though I am in house now, it just always feels so... decadent to be home on the Friday before Easter. So we made the most of it.
Friday: A trip to a local restaurant with our 3 kids, and a friend of each of the bigs. They barely stopped playing on the outdoor playscape long enough to eat. Cal had to be escorted home early because he was not quite big enough to really play on the playscape once a million other kids showed up, but too big to have a discreet meltown about it. After finishing the playdates at our house, we dyed eggs and snuggled for a family movie.
Saturday: After some prep, we went to a co-worker's house for an egg hunt and play. There were 9 kids, including ours, and lots of great adults for company. The kids wore each other out, such that once we got home we managed bathes and then poured them into beds and called it a night (and thank goodness - the Easter bunny was en route!)
Sunday: Checking out Easter baskets and hunting for all the eggs - I believe a record 88 were hidden. Calvin was the least competitive egg hunter and generally would find one, show it to you, get frustrated if you put it in his bag, take it back out of the bag, put it in his bag himself (thankyouverymuch), then want to keep looking in the bag to make sure it was still there. Cooper and Daphne, of course (taking after their mother), treated it as a winner-take-all throwdown.
A wonderful time was had by all.
TO TODAY!
And here we are now... the day before the last day of school. Which means I need to find a way to get from the last time I posted to now so that when I post our Summer To Do list for Summer 2018, we don't just skip over the time between... so, in short, what has been happening:
CAL:
Cal has been growing in size and personality.
He is our most "outspoken" and "spirited" child. BY FAR. And, to be clear, I do still remember Daphne's early years. He can identify all sorts of animals and gets the sounds they make mostly right now. We were all a little heartbroken when he started making a "meow" sounds instead of "num" when asked what sound a cat makes.
He loves nothing more than to go to a store, ideally one with a toy section, and get the taste for freedom that comes from being allowed out of the cart to explore. He hates nothing more than being told, after the taste of such freedom, that it is time to go. If I were not so focused on protecting myself from flailing limbs and head butting, I would have been mortified when leaving Kohls last weekend.
He is super quirky and a child steeped in routine.
When it is time for bed, he will sometimes say "yay!" when you ask him if he is ready for his bath, and then he MUST go upstairs and pick up all of his trains and put them back away in the toybox (if they are not strewn about already, he will get them out and then put them back). Then he will shut every single door in the hallway upstairs before heading to the bathroom.
He used to pick every single bath toy out from the bucket and hand them to me to put in the tub, but now I can barely get his diaper off before he hauls a leg up on the side of the bath in an effort to jump straight in. Any toys that DO make it in the bath must be retrieved one by one by Cal and handed to me at the end of the bath before he gets out.
Then he has a towel draped over this head (like a king or a heavyweight boxer) before regally strutting to his room (sometimes stopping to kiss commoners on the way, other times refusing their bids for affection - just to remind us who the boss is). Once in his room, he will throw the towel off and on to the floor, before scooping it up and throwing it with two hands into a specific corner and then squealing naked.
He loves reading books, and continues to get a bottle before bed, because he is my last baby, he doesn't suck his thumb or use a paci, and I know we need to stop it, but am forgiving myself until he is officially two...
In short - Calvin is ALL personality, very much not yet two (the child's vocabulary is quite limited), and yet runs this house like a boss. He is OBSESSED with the Despicable Me movies, and will sometimes DEMAND that we watch one. As soon as the Illumination logo comes on and the Minions comes out, he smiles SO big and squeals. We pretty much live for the squeals.
DAPH:
Daph continues to be a mama's girl. She sometimes comes home with big liquid brown eyes with tears brimming around the lashes, and when I ask what is wrong, she just melts into my lap and tells me that she just missed me so much.
The feeling is mutual my sweet girl - every minute we are apart. She is an excellent reader, and when we snuggle up to read a chapter or two of Junie B. Jones at night, I love that we can take turns on who reads to who. I was absolutely shocked when she said she wanted to sign up for theater camp this summer - as she continues to be shy and tend to avoid the spotlight at all costs. Cooper (who thrives in a spot light) will be with her, so I am hoping that if her confidence falters while she is there that he helps her find it again, because I think overcoming her fears will be so empowering for her.
It has taken me well into my 30s to begin to overcome most of my fears and insecurities, and I wonder why I waited so damn long to do this - freedom from fear is freaking awesome. On a related note, I continue to be terrified about raising a daughter in this world, even though I am in the midst of doing it, and this is hardly the time for fear... unless the fear is good because it keeps me on point for this journey. She is just so... I just love her so... this world is so... AHHH!
I feel like I grew up believing one thing about being a girl then a woman, and consider myself lucky to have been born into a family where I was able to believe that thing... but then, once I actually started venturing out in to the world... or at least parts of the world, I learned that not all the world is like the world my parents wanted me to believe was possible.
So I struggle... to raise her to believe in the world she SHOULD live in, or do I have to somehow prepare her for the world she likely WILL live in. Ugh. Why is that even a question?
She is advancing in gymnastics and piano, and seems pretty well balanced between school, a few activities, and some down time. I find myself reminding myself that she is still quite little. She has always seemed older than she is, which is great in that I don't want to limit her potential, but requires me to be careful that I don't ask more of her than I should of someone her age.
If we cuddle up for a family movie, Cal will inevitably come to me and ask to be "Bup!" on my lap. And then, much to my complete delight, Daph will find a way to crawl up on to the recliner and snuggle in to whatever space remains in around me. If I could find a way to recreate this level of peace, warmth and happiness at bedtime, I am quite certain my insomnia would lose every night.
COOPER:
Cooper is getting sooooooo tall. I mean, I bend down to kiss the top of his head, and then realize that bending is practically unnecessary. ! - I mean, really! He has the most beautiful brown eyes, guarded by the longest dark lashes, but you likely would not know it because they are usually hidden behind glasses so smudged by finger prints and.... GOD ONLY KNOWS, that it is a miracle he does not constantly walk into walls. I remember those days when it drove my parents batty - me with dirty glasses, practically falling off my face, and them saying "how can you even see out of those things." Yeah - it is a full circle moment up in here. He had his first go round of standardized testing, and while the results are not in (and I could care less what they are), I am so proud of him, because he wasn't even nervous (despite the INSANE amount of importance the schools put on these stupid tests). He is such a perfectionist I was afraid he might inherit his Grandpa's pre-test jitters, but he was like ice. So far his streak of all As is unbroken, and school remains something he enjoys. Sure, there are a days when he is not thrilled about doing homework, but who can blame a kid for that? And so long as you plant a bowl of chips or kiwi in front of him, he will generally dive in to his work with a happy attitude, and knock it out in record time. He has had a few "gentle" reminders to remember to write his name on his worksheets, and that his handwriting needs to be LEGIBLE to receive full credit, but generally, his teachers seem to adore him. He remains our absent minded professor, and is 100% the kid who will be holding a cup in one hand, a plate in the other, have something fall from the plate, and then bend at the waist to see what fell, tipping the content of the cup on to the floor in the process. If he were not such a sweetheart, and wasn't genuinely just as surprised as you at the fact that he spilled MORE, you would find it maddening. And, I mean, in all honesty, it is maddening even so, but he is such a helper and will clean up his messes to the best of his ability, so you gotta just love that kid. We have a new Wednesday night tradition in our house, which involves Cooper staying up late to watch Survivor with us, while we eat carryout. We are relishing every minute of him wanting to spend more time with us. All to aware that the days when he doesn't have time to spare for us may be just around the corner.
Cooper is also a bit more camera shy... so I have far fewer pictures of him... Which makes me sad, but is also probably appropriate as he is entering an age where mom posting pictures incessantly may not be quite so cool...
As for the adults - we continue to be lucky in that we are both at a place in our life where we have found jobs that we like, where we feel challenged and appreciated, and are also allowed to be parents. I don't think I can exist without an underlying restlessness, which makes me question how long this status quo will remain the status quo, no matter how great it is. Which doesn't mean anything is about to change - we could very well continue on this path for another 20 years, but the idea that we could choose to mix things up keeps me energized.
So here we are, nearing the end of Cal's year 2, at the end of Daph's "official" year of kindergarten and with Cooper heading out of third grade and into fourth (nearing MIDDLE SCHOOL). I pinch myself and knock on wood, because I can't believe how lucky we are and don't want to jinx it.
