It's not Mastercard

Waffles for breakfast
Snuggle time on the couch
Playing one-on-one on the floor with the littlest one while big sister goes to ballet practice
dinner at the overlook cafe
car ride doing the usual architectural tour of PDX
chatting with the husband about the future
playing with the flashlight and light board in the tent with the girls before bed...
all these things are priceless

she's leaving home, bye bye

Warning: The following statements were written by a fatigued, overly-warm, slightly cranky, low estrogenized, slightly depressed me, not my normal, slightly less fatigued self...

I feel as if my children are slowly moving beyond my reach. I can remember all the nights and days spent nursing Charlotte, spending time with her, just breathing in her baby-smell. I remember, too, talking with Abigail all the time when she was a wee one, playing with her, giving her hugs. Now Charlotte won't let me hug her, doesn't want me to hold her, and basically ignores me as much as humanly possible. I don't have the time I would like to spend giving her more one on one attention because I work all the time and Abigail is definitely a high maintenance child in the attention/need to be challenged respect. And Abigail's perma-chatter is driving me crazy-I love her and the fact that she has more than mastered the English language, but her conversations border on the manic, especially when she feels you are not paying enough attention to her.

So, I am saddened by all this. I realize deep down that most of these thoughts are highly emotional, only slightly tinged with rational thinking. But I feel sad and not a bit lonely, nonetheless.

Putting the smack down

Charlotte, my 1 year old, likes to express herself. She smiles, she coos, grimaces, raises her eyebrows, frowns, pouts, screams, cries, and babbles. She also likes to express herself with her hands: waving, shaking her fist, grabbing her hair, pulling on her toes, playing with toys, sucking her thumb, and laying some serious smack down on her parents. What? the food's not to your liking, smack the high chair tray! What? not the right toys? smack the floor. what? too tired to keep your head up? smack your head, alternating hands.
I love that babies/early stage toddlers have such a rich battery of non-verbal skills at their ready. Sometimes I find myself telling my 3 1/2 year old to use her words(instead of whining or blubbering). I watch people, unable to communicate efficiently, politely, or comprehensively, and I think, what if we all just smacked our head every now and then in frustration? What if, instead of tyring to come up with the perfect phrase to impress on someone just how intellectually astute we are, we simply sat down and started untying our shoes and drooling?
I think this world could benefit from the winsome ways of little ones.

ps-I really enjoy finding out from my trusty spell check that there were "no misspellings".