Every evening when we sit down for dinner, Pumpkin leads us in saying grace and then asks each one of us to "say your favorite part of the day." Yesterday I told her, without exaggerating, that the entire day was my favorite and I simply could not pick one single part.
It started with us being late to church because of an unidentifiable death-smell emanating from our garage. After church, in temperatures nearing 100 degrees in the shade, we cleared and cleaned the entire garage from top to bottom with Clorox. After a family-wide nap, we brought Gigi lunch. Any of you that know Gigi realize that her home is the antithesis of child-proof, so after several (hilarious to me only) minutes of Bug destroying, banging, and throwing, we left there to get milkshakes and head home to swim. By the time we got diapered, suited, floatied, and sunscreened, the heavens opened up and thunder dictated we evacuate the pool. After getting cleaned and jammied (at 4:30 PM), we ordered pizzas, spread out sleeping bags, and watched a movie (which, in reality, consisted of two girls dancing in front of the television to every song that came on). Bug was so thrilled with getting to eat on the floor she literally could not contain her excitement, grunting, rolling, and sprinting around the room after every bite. While none of that may seem like very much, it was truly the best day I could even imagine. This morning, Pum asked me if we could have "family night" again. My heart was so full I thought it might burst.
We had our first ever July-giving on Saturday - complete with turkey, dressing, and all the fixins'. While it started out sort of tongue-in-cheek, it was a great opportunity to reflect on how thankful I truly am. Particularly at this time when I'm anxious about surgery, busy at work, and just generally on edge because of pain, I needed a reminder of how absolutely amazing my life is and how blessed I am. I do not deserve it, but as Paul's Letter to the Romans reminded me this morning - if it were based on merit, Grace would not be Grace. God's grace covers me.
Through all of this the girls are transforming before our eyes. Boo Boo seems to be learning a new word or more every day. She was at the library last week, raising cane as she is apt to do (always for a laugh) and it seems as if she was "shh shh'd" one too many times. Now any time I sing "Do You Want to Build a Snowman" she puts her chubby little finger to her lips and says "shh shh." Not sure why it is that song (and don't judge me but it's stuck in my head quite a bit), but after every verse she shushes me.
That is, with the one hand that is not clutching her blanket. Seems for some reason that in the past week Boo has become a blanket kid, a la Linus. We thought we had done such a good job avoiding pacis, lovies, and all those other crutches (after the absolute hell we had getting rid of Pum's paci at 3) and then one day we came home to find her literally with one little foot propped on the outside of her crib struggling to drag her blanket out through the slats. Luckily when I had to wash the darn thing yesterday I was pleasantly surprised to learn that she is not attached to any particular blanket, but just wants A blanket. In any event, it's too cute to press the issue. Remind me of that when she starts school.
I also discovered last week that Boo Boo either thinks I look like or that I actually am a rubber duck. She's had a little bath toy duck that has a cheerleading suit and pigtails that she would always put in my face and say "mama mama mama." I was never sure if it was because "mama" was one of her only handful of words, whether she just wanted me to acknowledge it, or if it was because it was a girl, but I always just smiled that silly mama smile and said "yes, duck, quack quack" and moved on. After months of this, Boo Boo and I were doing a puzzle the other night and when we got to the yellow duck piece she was so excited and pointed and exclaimed "MAMA!" I'm not sure how to take it. Maybe all my acknowledgment of the bath duck was really (in her mind) my agreement that I was, indeed, a rubber duckie. I guess it could be worse, she does have toy whales in the bathtub.
As for Pum, she is still 4 going on 24 most days. We were talking about my upcoming hospital stay and she informed me that if I couldn't find someone to stay with she and Boo Boo that Adeline (our neighbor) was going to be 5 and could swim underwater without a floatie so she could definitely stay with them while we were in Houston. What a relief.
That girl has an old soul and challenges me so much with her absolute likenesses to me and my behaviors. In one moment this weekend I taught her to make cornbread dressing (which she really did make all by herself, with my supervision and cutting/oven management) and in the next she is rolling her eyes at me when I ask her to do something. I see in her my good and my bad. Rather than getting mad at her or fussing, now I am just trying to model peace and contentment to her. She has a short fuse because I sometimes do. I want her to learn from my learning. She is always watching and listening.
Boo on the other hand apparently only hears quacking when I talk.
It started with us being late to church because of an unidentifiable death-smell emanating from our garage. After church, in temperatures nearing 100 degrees in the shade, we cleared and cleaned the entire garage from top to bottom with Clorox. After a family-wide nap, we brought Gigi lunch. Any of you that know Gigi realize that her home is the antithesis of child-proof, so after several (hilarious to me only) minutes of Bug destroying, banging, and throwing, we left there to get milkshakes and head home to swim. By the time we got diapered, suited, floatied, and sunscreened, the heavens opened up and thunder dictated we evacuate the pool. After getting cleaned and jammied (at 4:30 PM), we ordered pizzas, spread out sleeping bags, and watched a movie (which, in reality, consisted of two girls dancing in front of the television to every song that came on). Bug was so thrilled with getting to eat on the floor she literally could not contain her excitement, grunting, rolling, and sprinting around the room after every bite. While none of that may seem like very much, it was truly the best day I could even imagine. This morning, Pum asked me if we could have "family night" again. My heart was so full I thought it might burst.
We had our first ever July-giving on Saturday - complete with turkey, dressing, and all the fixins'. While it started out sort of tongue-in-cheek, it was a great opportunity to reflect on how thankful I truly am. Particularly at this time when I'm anxious about surgery, busy at work, and just generally on edge because of pain, I needed a reminder of how absolutely amazing my life is and how blessed I am. I do not deserve it, but as Paul's Letter to the Romans reminded me this morning - if it were based on merit, Grace would not be Grace. God's grace covers me.
Through all of this the girls are transforming before our eyes. Boo Boo seems to be learning a new word or more every day. She was at the library last week, raising cane as she is apt to do (always for a laugh) and it seems as if she was "shh shh'd" one too many times. Now any time I sing "Do You Want to Build a Snowman" she puts her chubby little finger to her lips and says "shh shh." Not sure why it is that song (and don't judge me but it's stuck in my head quite a bit), but after every verse she shushes me.
That is, with the one hand that is not clutching her blanket. Seems for some reason that in the past week Boo has become a blanket kid, a la Linus. We thought we had done such a good job avoiding pacis, lovies, and all those other crutches (after the absolute hell we had getting rid of Pum's paci at 3) and then one day we came home to find her literally with one little foot propped on the outside of her crib struggling to drag her blanket out through the slats. Luckily when I had to wash the darn thing yesterday I was pleasantly surprised to learn that she is not attached to any particular blanket, but just wants A blanket. In any event, it's too cute to press the issue. Remind me of that when she starts school.
I also discovered last week that Boo Boo either thinks I look like or that I actually am a rubber duck. She's had a little bath toy duck that has a cheerleading suit and pigtails that she would always put in my face and say "mama mama mama." I was never sure if it was because "mama" was one of her only handful of words, whether she just wanted me to acknowledge it, or if it was because it was a girl, but I always just smiled that silly mama smile and said "yes, duck, quack quack" and moved on. After months of this, Boo Boo and I were doing a puzzle the other night and when we got to the yellow duck piece she was so excited and pointed and exclaimed "MAMA!" I'm not sure how to take it. Maybe all my acknowledgment of the bath duck was really (in her mind) my agreement that I was, indeed, a rubber duckie. I guess it could be worse, she does have toy whales in the bathtub.
As for Pum, she is still 4 going on 24 most days. We were talking about my upcoming hospital stay and she informed me that if I couldn't find someone to stay with she and Boo Boo that Adeline (our neighbor) was going to be 5 and could swim underwater without a floatie so she could definitely stay with them while we were in Houston. What a relief.
That girl has an old soul and challenges me so much with her absolute likenesses to me and my behaviors. In one moment this weekend I taught her to make cornbread dressing (which she really did make all by herself, with my supervision and cutting/oven management) and in the next she is rolling her eyes at me when I ask her to do something. I see in her my good and my bad. Rather than getting mad at her or fussing, now I am just trying to model peace and contentment to her. She has a short fuse because I sometimes do. I want her to learn from my learning. She is always watching and listening.
Boo on the other hand apparently only hears quacking when I talk.
Comments
Post a Comment