Tuesday, September 04, 2012

Gratitude

Time to get back into capturing those moments of bliss...those tiny quiet pleasures that make you realize the fullness of life.

Today it's this:


Beastie Girls.
Cooking with beasties is not always fun...it takes a special source of patience to deal with the little hands wanting to help. But they love it so much, and I love watching these two beastie girls help each other out. And then of course while we're cooking, we're enjoying that rockin' speech by Michelle Obama. Piper said at one point "She has brown eyes like us!" and at the end "She's awesome mom!" I'm thankful that I get to raise my girls in such a way that they get to strong, intelligent woman in public political spaces. In this world, in this time, we can bake cakes and take on the political world. It struck me that I'm usually really focused on Umberto having a role model in Obama (Umberto loves Obama) but tonight I realized how important it was my girls to see and hear woman like Michelle as well. 

Time Keeps Slipping Away...

I need to write more. Time is never still, and my beasties grow and morph into new creations of themselves. And I want to capture those moments in words--words that I can go back to and savor as they get older. Plus the time I spent writing does not feel wasted and lately I feel like I'm wasting a lot of time, spinning my wheels as I wait...always waiting...that's me.

The girls are in their new school two days a week which is just about perfect. I think Piper would like to go a little more but this what we can afford for now. Camille enjoys going but doesn't talk much about the experience nor does she seem to be bonding with any of the other kids. Piper loves it. She loves to tell me about the other children. What she did for the day. And even after a full day of school, she still wants to walk, swim and craft. It's impossible to keep up with her. For Camille, it's a lot and when she comes she kind of hermits up into her role playing games of Warrior Cats.

Seeing how they are so different is always such a moment of wonder for me. They look so much alike.They came from the same parents. Same family. And while I see glimpses of H and I in each of them, they are so much their own people too. Wednesdays really hammer these differences home. Wednesdays are our big day. The girls have school until 3 and then we have Religious Ed. at 6: 15. Their first day of this schedule was last week. By the end of the class, Camille was done. She wouldn't even say hi to her good friend. Piper was still bouncing with energy and wanted to know if she was going to craft club again. Craft club meets Wednesdays from 4-5 so I guess we're doing craft club too.

Umberto has morphed into a tween for better or worst. Luckily there are slivers of his sweet baby self that shine through the fart jokes, the poop talk, and the sulky moodiness. Whenever I want to strangle him, he acts so lovingly sweet with R that I am struck anew at his capability for love and compassion. I am confident he will emerge from these smelly, yucky years as a good, gentle man. He is talking about wanting to go to High School which is scary for me but I will let him go if he wants. He's working hard towards catching up so he can do that if he ends making that decision, and it's pretty awesome to see him being motivated by something and then making plans to meet those goals. I didn't think we would reach this point even three years ago. I have to remind myself of this when nine year old Camille fights me on every bit of work she's asked to do.

And then there is baby R, who at almost 2.5 is still very much our baby. She's talking more which is a bit of a relief as she didn't seem to have too much to say for awhile. I have to admit I was a bit freaked out that we may have another Camille on our hands (don't get me wrong, I ADORE Camille but one is plenty for any family thank you very much). But now she's talking away even if we can't always understand her. She's extremely sensitive to other people's emotions as well...even on the t.v. She's a torturer and lover of our poor kitties who do well considering her idea of loving is to lay on them. She's also a fashionista which is hilarious considering how her parents are so not.

So we're updated. There's so much more...soon there are some new stories to tell. I've been waiting...remember I wait...to tell them, and I let myself stop writing until I could tell this one story but there are other stories waiting to come out so I will tell them...and make the waiting a bit more dynamic.