First of the Season

This is The Boy's new favourite hobby. Just one more thing to love about spring.

Happy Birthday Girl

Dear Girl,

Tomorrow is your first birthday and all of those parental clichés are true…it really does pass by too quickly, you really are growing up too fast, and I really do wish I could freeze frame you so that you’re this small forever. The problem with that last one is that every time I say that to myself, you go and grow up a little bit and become cuter, and smarter, and funnier and more charming. And I fall more in love with you.

You haven’t quite figured out how to walk yet, but I think you’re close. You like to let go of the couch while standing up so you can bend down to pick up a toy. Then, without ever falling over, you stand back up again so you can properly examine said toy, without ever realizing that you’re doing something special by not ending up on you bottom.

Your brother is your biggest fan. I’m making note of this now, because it may not always be the case (I speak from experience here). He gets upset with me when I go fetch you in the morning without including him, because, like me, he loves nothing better than to see your groggy little face in the morning. Groggy, but happy, as though you’re so thrilled that someone is coming to help you start your day that you can barely contain your excitement. Your brother likes to smother you in hugs and kisses, and you love receiving them. I’m sure there will be years when you and your brother don’t spend much time together and he’d rather you didn’t exist and vice-versa. There’s about the same amount of space between me and your Uncle P as there is between you and The Boy, and that’s the way it was with us. But, if I’m really lucky, you and The Boy will grow up and enjoy each other’s company, just like my brother and I do.

You’re not much of a snuggler, which saddens me a little. Your brother wasn’t a snuggler either, so I was hoping that at least one of my kids would like to sit and cuddle. Nope, you’d much rather be off exploring the world. I suppose your independence is the ultimate goal in this whole parenting business, I just wish you weren’t asserting it quite so forcefully at such a young age. When you were a wee infant, around 8 weeks old I guess, I decided it was time to start the bedtime ritual we had done with The Boy every night for about 2 years, and read you Good Night Moon before bed. You didn’t mind the first night, but after that, you would cry every time I started ‘In the great green room…’ If I stopped reading, you stopped crying. “Ladies and gentlemen, may I introduce The Girl, youngest book critic ever.” Didn’t matter which book I tried, all you wanted was to go to bed, and the second your head hit the mattress you were happy and ready for sleep to come find you. Just like your mother. I still recite Good Night Moon from memory for you every night…some traditions are as much for mommy as they are for baby, you know.

Your brother has a new fondness for pointing out your ‘firsts’, even when they really aren’t:

“Mommy, this is her first time having oatmeal!”
“Actually honey, she has oatmeal a couple of times a week”
“This is your first time going swimming, Girl!”
“Boy, she goes swimming every week, just like you do.”

I’m pretty sure it comes from his very real desire to be the best big brother in the world; HE wants to be the one to introduce the world’s delights to you, because it’s his job. So far this week he’s shown you how to get dressed, how to brush your teeth and how to eat tacos. Tomorrow he will show you how to celebrate a birthday and how to eat your first piece of cake. Happy First Birthday, babywink.

Love,
Mama

Take Five (otherwise known as fluffy content to fill the void)

Stole this from Heather...

5 things in my fridge:
-Petit Danone, otherwise known in my house as 'baby yogurt'
-tzatziki
-2 very ripe avocadoes
-a Brita pitcher
-what's left of the blueberry/grape jam The Boy picked out when we made jam-jams last weekend

5 things in my closet:
-The Girl's birthday stash
-photos awaiting albums to live in
-a television
-the bridesmaid's dress from my cousin's wedding last October - it's beautiful!
-a Captain Underpants book that's a duplicate of one The Boy already has...just waiting for someone to give it to

5 things in my car:
-a small stroller
-my Hotsling...couldn't live without it!
-kleenex
-gum
-an umbrella

5 things on my desk at work:
-a clear jar that holds lots of pretty markers
-an empty kleenex box (just getting over a cold)
-a barcode reader
-recent photos of the kids
-the 'snack cup'...a large, orange café au lait mug with saucer that has been on every desk at every job I've had since 1997. It currently holds Whitman's chocolates.

5 things on my desk at home:
-a U.S. $1 bill
-kleenex (see a theme here? It's allergy season)
-a 'Dora the Explorer' CD-ROM that came free in a box of cereal
-some printouts of superhero jpeg's that The Boy somehow figured out how to print
-The Husband's nametag from a job he held many moons ago; it reads 'Gus', which isn't his name.

Blogrant

No, not a blog entry that is a rant, but rather a combination of the words ‘blog’ and ‘vagrant’, as in, “I’ve been a real blogrant lately…must post something soon lest my readers (both of you) stop visiting.” Sorry folks…this pesky job of mine keeps getting in the way!