William turned three this past Monday. I have been terrible at keeping up with updates, which I know doesn’t matter to a lot of you, but part of my reason for doing the updates is that I don’t have a baby book or other way of looking back at what he was like as a baby. My big plan was to show these to the kids when they got a bit older so they could learn about what they were like as kids.

Best laid plans. Hopefully he will forgive me.

So anyway - our sweet William is three. He goes to pre-school two days a week for two hours each day with Ms. Debbie and nine other kids. He absolutely loves it and on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays when he doesn’t have school he always asks “Do I go to ‘chool today?” When the answer is an apologetic “no” he gets very grumpy and quiet.

He is talking up a storm, has great motor skills and balance - although he hasn’t learned how to pedal his bike yet. He is great on his scooter, but the bike, not so much. Maybe this summer. At today’s annual check-up he weighed in at 32 pounds and 37 inches tall. 50th percentile all the way around.

He loves sports. All sports - soccer, football, hockey, basketball. Which is funny, because if you know Mike and me, you know that while we like watching sports (some of them anyway) we are not the most athletically inclined and certainly have not been introducing William to any sports on our own. I enrolled him in a “Coach Doug Sports” class where the little ones “play” a different sport every week and he loooooved it. Now he is able to identify what kind of sport a ball belongs to and spends countless hours kicking or throwing balls around the house. Which is lovely really. The throwing of balls. In the house. So far there has been no damage, but now that the weather is getting nicer we are hopeful that we can redirect his sports hijinks outside.

He is not a picky eater, although he plays with his food constantly. I know this is somewhat developmentally appropriate, but it still makes me nuts, which he knows and loves. His table manners are getting better though; at least now he can say excuse me and clears his own place after a meal.

His sleeping habits have gotten better - he goes to bed with no fuss at all, as long as I promise to come check on him “in a few minutes”. But most nights he wakes up in the middle of the night and comes into bed with us. Usually we are too asleep to get him back to bed, which has only reinforced the habit. The worst part of it is that he tends to kick us in the face or the belly, depending on which way he gets himself turned, which is not the nicest way to wake up. Something to work on with him I suppose.

He generally loves his big sister almost more than he loves the rest of us. In the mornings when he first wakes up (in our bed) and sees her, his first words are “EMMA! I love you!” to which she responds “I love you too William.” I mean it just doesn’t get much better than that right?

William is a amazingly happy, easygoing, lovable boy with a great sense of humor who flashes a smile at us multiple times a day. He likes being a big boy, except when I remind him that big boys sleep in their own beds, then he looks at me and says “I’m not SO big mommy, I’m still little.”

Touché sweet boy. Touché.

The first two tries she needed us to hold on to her and run with her for a few seconds before we could let go. By the third ride she only needed us to hold her up as she got started.

It was an afternoon filled with emotion for me. (Ok, ok, when is anything NOT filled with emotion for me…I know…) It was so amazing to watch Emma learn this skill which is really kind of basic but seems like such an important rite of passage. Where has the time gone? When did my baby get so big? How can she not need me to run with her anymore? I feel like I am asking myself that question so much with Emma these days.

I distinctly remember learning to ride a bike. My dad taught me while my mom was at the store buying a pacifier for my baby sister. I know this because I wrote a story about it in first grade and that is what I wrote. So it must be true right? Anyway, I remember really enjoying having the focus be on me for an hour or two, and I remember the exhilaration I felt when I finally got the hang of it. It also sticks out in my mind as one of my first solid memories of my childhood.

Now that my daughter is doing things that I remember doing as a child, things that feel like they just happened yesterday, I feel like my life has started to come full circle old. This has caused an odd rift in my own space-time continuum and I find myself uttering those horrific words: “I remember when I was your age.” AAAAAAGHHHHH.

Anyway, before this blog post comes full circle I will quit while I am ahead and just say - ride on Emma! Hopefully you won’t mind if I run with you for just a few years more…

My family went on vacation last week. And we had FUN. Serious fun. The kind of fun that makes you love being a parent.

I don’t know if it is because the kids are a little older, or if it is because I didn’t think too much about the trip before we left, but it was awesome. As vacations go, this one was right up at the top of the list.

We spent the week at the Massanutten Resort in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia. Emma took ski class three of the days and I think can now qualify as a full-fledged SKIER. By the end of the week she was dragging me around the mountain telling me which runs she wanted to do.

William took one short ski class, mostly because he was tired of being left out of all the skiing fun, and did really well for his first time plus got to practice his flirting techniques.

We spent a couple of nights at the Massanutten Water Park, which I was leery of at first, but which turned out to be some of the most fun I have had in a long time. On one of the rainy days we went to Luray Caverns, a spot Mike and I hadn’t visited in a few decades. William was non-plussed but Emma was amazed and both did a great job during the mile trek through the underworld.

The weather was warm enough that we got in a hike and a few walks and the kids had some fun digging in a stream near the house we stayed in. The kids discovered the movie Bambi right before we left and watched it at least six times during the course of the week, no exaggeration, and we let them.

It helped that every morning and every evening Bambi’s real-life cousins gathered in the woods outside the house, lingering until they were scared away by the delighted shrieks of the resident pre-schoolers.

We had friends join us for the first few days of the trip, which could be part of why it all went so well. Having friends around made it more fun for everyone and allowed us to enjoy each other without feeling like we had to. In the end, this was the kind of vacation you are extra-sad to come home from. It was packed with laughter and new adventures without being exhausting or overly scheduled.

We got unpacked and cleaned up yesterday, and I am already looking forward to our next trip!

What a great way to teach kids about the world around them. Not to mention getting help with finding a cool spot for date night!

Now I think I have come to some peace about Valentine’s Day. It is clear to me that it is a holiday concocted by the greeting card industry that as a grown up I am ok not participating in. But it is also a day that is super fun for kids - and a great opportunity to teach them to “shower the people you love with love”. I have some issues with the generally accepted concept of romantic love (that is for another post perhaps), but I am all about loving each other in a true sense and not being afraid to express it.

So - this year the kids made a list of all of their family members and spent an afternoon creating Valentine’s Day cards for them. The cutest part was that they were very clear that each card was for a specific person. No “one-card-fits-all” for these kids. They were deliberate in their art and each person got exactly the card the kids wanted them to get.

Aunt Emily and Aunt Lexi posted their cards on Facebook - one right after the other, which was funny:

The kids made chocolate-covered heart-shaped rice crispy treats on-a-stick for their classmates and they seemed to be a big hit:

Next year I want to try these cute stained glass Valentine cards.

So Happy Valentine’s Day to you and all those you love!

One area I do NOT excel in - fashion and design. I think most people who know me would use the word “dramatic” to describe my emotional state but never my sense of style.

I know what I like when I see it, which is probably why I love Pinterest so much. No creativity required, just one click and my board looks like I could be hosting a make-over show on HGTV. But if I try to actually put together a room around a cohesive design style: luh-ame. If I try to create a remotely interesting work wardrobe, heck outfit even, drab and dreary.

Which is why when my daughter asked me yesterday morning if she could help me get dressed - so I could “look pretty” - I figured why not? I have known for quite some time that Emma far surpasses me in the GirlyGirl category, so why not let her loose in my closet and see what she comes up with?

At first she chose a long gauzy summer skirt - tie-dyed with sparkles sewn in. Think BollyWood by Old Navy. When I explained I thought it would probably be a little chilly for the expected 35+ degrees of the day she explained impatiently “Well mommy, you could wear TIGHTS.” DUH. I steered her away from that and she fixed on another summer outfit, silk capris covered with large pink and orange flowers (what in the h*#@ was I thinking? Clearly a drastic cry for help.) Again I explained the summer/winter issue and that I would be too cold to do any work if I wore that particular outfit, but hey, fthanks for playing.

With reluctance and some nudging from me she settled on a dark wool skirt and a nice blouse from Coldwater Creek with a tank top underneath it. More conservative than she wanted to go for sure, but she seemed mostly pleased.

Then she asked to choose my jewelry. I allowed it and she chose a nice pair of turquoise earrings (thanks Joc!) and a matching necklace that she made for me with the help of our last au pair Claire. I put the jewelry on and marveled at how nicely it went with the outfit I had on. No really, it did. This girl can accessorize.

Throughout the day I got no less than five comments on how nice I looked, with specific and multiple mentions of the jewelry. It is not lost on me that although I mostly chose the clothes and artfully convinced her that she had, the choice of jewelry was all Emma.

Today I am in another Emma inspired outfit, complete with necklace and earrings. While yesterday’s theme was “pretty”, today Emma told me she wanted me to look “fancy”. The second person who laid eyes on me in the office said to me “Ooh you look so fancy!” True story.

Maybe next week I should go with the flowered capris.

Mommy do you know I love you?

I stopped in my tracks in the darkened room and turned towards the bed.

What sweetie?

Mommy do you know I love you?

I smiled a huge smile, my heart flooding with love for this little boy, Yes William, I know you love me. Do you know I love you?

Yes Mommy, I know you love me. Goodnight Mommy, sweet dreams.

Goodnight William. Sweet dreams.

It has become our routine ever since that first time. I am still as amazed by it every night - fascinated that his construct is not “I love you” but “Do you KNOW I love you” as if to say his loving of me is not the question. Ever. The question is only that I know it.

I hope this is a routine that will never grow old for him…

All that survives after our death are publications and people.

So look carefully after the words you write, the thoughts and publications you create, and how you love others. For these are the only things that will remain.

– Susan Niebur

She has been writing her name for about a year and a half, but didn’t seem to have much interest in any letters beyond e, m and a, until the last few weeks. But that is how it is with Emma, she fools you into thinking she is paying no attention to whatever developmental milestone you think she should be hitting, until you give up. And then she hits it, right in the center of the bullseye.

She has been getting excited lately about writing and has been asking us to tell her what letters are in particular words so she can write them down. We have helped her and she has been writing words this way for a few weeks. Last Friday I came home and Emma had written this:

Our au pair told her the letters to write and Emma wrote a short story (a poem really isn’t it?) about our weekend plans.

The next day Emma took her handy dry-erase board (thanks WP for a great birthday present!) and said “Wait Mommy, don’t look!” She ran out of the room for a few minutes, then came back and said triumphantly “LOOK!” and she had written this, with no outside help:

I know I shouldn’t be surprised. I know kids learn how to write. I know it’s no big deal really.

But holy mackerel - how did she know how to DO that? I mean “William”??? That is NOT a short word. And “Mommy (momy)”?? How does she even know what letter that is supposed to start with? WHAT IS GOING ON HERE? Didn’t she just start walking? Didn’t she just say “lasagna” for the first time? Suddenly I feel like I am on a wondrous boat ride with Mr. Willy Wonka that has turned into a psychedelic trip down the chocolate river - “There’s no earthly way of knowing, what direction we are going…”

It’s a whole new world…

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I also love when the month is over and January shows up with it’s quiet calm, cold and dreary to be sure, but still and contemplative.

In the beginning of December when the tree goes up and the decorations come out and the cookie recipes are shuffled I can never imagine a time when I will be happy to have the tree gone and the wrapping paper back in its place. And yet, every January I take a deep sigh of relief. I love the celebrations and the time together - and even as we put the decorations away I can’t wait for next year. - but I also love the time I have in January to reflect on what a great time we had during the holidays, what we can do differently next year, and especially how happy and grateful I am to have had another special holiday season with my family and friends.

So, Happy New Year to you all and best wishes for a peaceful and joyous 2012.
xo