Seventeen months...

Today was one of those random days when I had to go to work. I missed this little guy. Of course, I missed his sister too but for some reason when I am working it is my littlest one who I think about most often. Maybe because B is not yet able to tell me about his day. I know he was having a great day spending time with Daddy and R. He even got a little visit in with his beloved Grandma! It is hard to believe that he is already seventeen months old. In just seventeen more months I will be back to teaching full time. Park days and play dates will be more seldom...but we will always have the summer!

Flash Forward

Something about this picture makes me see forward ten years into the future when R is a teenager.

She may no longer have daily gems like:

"No, I am'pt!" (which means "No, I'm not!")

counting: "...thirteen, fourteen, five-teen, sixteen..."

very sincerely to B: "I love you, brother!" (and then squeezes him and kisses his head)

But at thirteen, R will still be hilarious, and keenly smart, and loving. She will probably still love music and dancing and dressing up. Her vices may still be "treats" and "T.V" but I am sure that she will have a lot more self-control. I bet that she will continue to be confident and outgoing and that people will be drawn to her. It amazes me at age 3 what a strong personality she already has. She truly is our "little gem" and always will be.

Seattle

We spent the weekend in Seattle and hit all the hot spots for the under 5 crowd (the Children's Museum and the Seattle Zoo). Traveling with kids is always an adventure...long car rides, lots of walking, junk food and late nights. Our kids were troopers though and we had a great time. It was nice to have Gma and Gpa there to help wrangle the kids - especially at the zoo when B just wanted to jump, run, and climb. Here's B and Gma in a face to face meeting with a penguin!

Airplanes

B is at the way too cute stage where all it takes is an airplane flying overhead to make him happy. Helicopters make him ecstatic...Dogs riding in the back of trucks parked beside us at a red light totally get him pointing. He loves walking down our street to look at the excavators that are parked there. When a truck came and dumped a load of dirt off at our house he thought it was so exciting. For him it is the little things that matter - especially when they are really big and noisy!

Sunshine

Many of my own childhood memories center around playing on the street. My brother and I were allowed to play between two particular streetlamps as our boundaries. We kept ourselves busy with activities like running races, riding bikes, playing street hockey and lemonade stands. We had a neighbourhood full of kids to play with and we usually stayed out until those streetlamps went out. Then we would still wait until we could hear our mom calling us before we would reluctantly go inside.

Gems: Part I

Our "precious gem" has so many gems of her own. There are a few classics though which I need to write down before I forget:

yogurt = "nogurt" (she has said it like this ever since she started talking so I don't correct it...I wonder how much longer it will last)

After getting in trouble for wrestling with B: "Don't worry mommy, we're not wrestling - we're muscle fighting!"

After I say thank you: "Good manners, mommy!"

McDonald's = "Old McDonald's" (again, I don't correct it, I just enjoy it)

She also had a brief period where she subbed the "sh" blend for the letter "s" (that one we were actually a bit concerned about but it has faded).

Right before she turned two she insisted calling her dad and I by our first names. The more we tried to correct it the more she did it so we finally had to ignore it and it also faded.

Currently her favourite schtick is to talk like a robot and to get you to talk like one too - she finds it "hiwarious"!

Stay tuned for Part Deux when I remember more of her gems. B is also brewing up some of his own...

Post your own "gems" in comments - they are just too funny!

Grandpa T

We had an afternoon visit from Grandpa T today. As you can see the kids were loving his story time - they got right into this one! I was loving the fact that they were entertained which meant that I was able to do those little things like windows, recycle, organizing the laundry room, etc... It is nice to be heading into the weekend with those things already accomplished. Thanks Gpa T! The kids love playing with him because he is one of those grandpas that never really grew up (he even had a nap at the same time as B!). They always have fun with Grandpa!