Slacker

I cannot believe how long it has been since my last post. Over two months, and so much has happened! I mostly blame my lack of blogging on Emilia. She likes to do what I am doing, which is great when I am not trying to read, practice my guitar, eat lunch (she prefers to share my food), or typing on the computer. I would just wait for nap time, but she sleeps in the computer room (keeping my fingers crossed about that whole computer causes cancer thing). This is my most intense child, and I love her for it. She feels things deeply, which means we have a lot of drama. But because she feels things deeply we also see and experience a tremendous amount of joy with her. It's totally worth it. Emilia is approaching two years of age and I lover her more every day. If she is in the mood, she will repeat anything I say. Outside of that, she does little speaking of real words (although there is plenty of gibberish). Her biggest obsession right now is going outside. Most mornings, the first thing she does is bring me her shoes in hopes that I will put them on her and send her outside. Just mention the word "outside" and she goes running out the door. It is such a joy to watch her explore her little world. Her other obsession is her dad, who she talks about all the time (Dad? Dad? My dad! My dad!). She squeals with joy when he comes home, and is his right hand man when he is working outside. All of my kids have loved their dad at this age, but she might be my first who actually prefers him over me much of the time. I think the feeling is mutual! Emilia has real intent in life, and is happy as long as nobody interferes with her plans. Usually I can accommodate, but not always. This is when we see the drama. She is a girl who knows what she wants!

I swear Carson is going to grow up to be some sort of engineer. That kid loves to build. We got him Legos for Christmas, and he makes some pretty cool stuff, mostly trains and planes and towers. That is, when I can get him motivated. Carson likes to take it easy in life, which makes him peaceful. This in turn gives me peace... unless I am trying to get him to do something in a hurry. In those cases he brings frustration. The poor kid doesn't mean anything by it, he just is not in any rush to do anything at all. He is also really into hiding, which from the outside is precious. But again, if I am trying to get somewhere it is super frustrating. Say for example, I leave to find his shoes for him. When I come back he is nowhere to be seen. If I am lucky, his giggles will quickly lead me to him hiding behind furniture, in the back seat of the car, under his covers in his bed, etc... If I were smart I would allot some time for hiding in my getting-ready schedule. It might stress both of us out less. What a sweet boy though.  I have noticed lately how tough he can be when experiencing physical injury. Things like falling down or bumping his head don't really phase him. However, if a person hurts him it breaks his heart. It is a tenderness that I hope he holds onto.

I am in some serious trouble with Rachel. Apparently the fact that she is someday going to be the Red Power Ranger was some big secret. She is mad because I told everyone. So if you could all forget that I said anything, that would be great. Rachel has a really rich fantasy life, which I adore. I try really hard to encourage her, for two reasons. First of all, I love it when she tells me about her fantasy world, and I don't want her to sense that I think it is silly. Second, because I think the longer she holds onto her desire to pretend, the longer she can stay a child. And I think in this day and age that is a good thing. Especially since in many ways she is trying to grow up too soon. Yesterday she wanted to ride bikes with a 5th and 6th grader in our neighborhood. I know the 5th grader, but not the 6th grader. Shelby and I just didn't feel good about it. She was devistated at being told "no" and acted very (to quote the great Clif Huxtable) "teenager-y" about it. I have a feeling this is the beginning of a lot of similar situations.

I have to give a little shout out to my sisters for their interest in my kids this past week. It was spring break, but also the Friday before was mine and Shelby's anniversary. My sister Sarah took Rachel Saturday night for us, with the plan of me picking her up Sunday afternoon. Sunday afternoon rolled around and she called with an offer to keep Rachel for a couple more days. There is nothing Rachel loves more than spending time with her cousins. At Sarah's house she was in her element. Of course if you ask her if she had fun, she will first tell you about how Maya ran her over with a four-wheeler. She's fine of course, but she does have a flare for the dramatic.

The rest of spring break was just as fun as I hoped it would be. It started with a huge family Easter egg hunt at my aunt Gigi's house Saturday afternoon. Tuesday we went to see a 3-D movie (the Croods). Wednesday was sand dunes day. Then my awesome big sister (Shout-out to you, Summer) kept all the potty trained cousins for a sleep-over. To understand the significance of this you have to recognize that this came to 13 kids in all. And she did it willingly! I came back to her house to help the cousins decorate Easter eggs. Thursday night through Friday was Recover-From-Fun time. Saturday we planted our spring garden and decorated our own eggs. Then of course Sunday was Easter. We spent Easter day with cousins again. It was a great finale to a great week.

All of the spring break fun proved too much for Lilly's immune system. On Sunday morning she woke up with a bad sore throat and spent the day in and out of consciousness. She didn't even want any of her Easter candy! Remember Lilly was sick with the flu from Christmas Eve through most of Christmas break. At one point Easter morning she exclaimed, "Why am I always sick at every holiday?" Good question Lilly. This sore throat thing she had lasted about 4 days. She was mostly a good sport. One night, around 3am after I had to comfort her for a second time she said, "I'm sorry you had to get up with me again mom." Which of course broke my heart. By the end of the 4 day stretch however, we were both pretty grumpy. I was quite happy to send her back to school yesterday.

So a couple of Lilly speaks. She is in kindergarten, and learning to read. Of course she is also in primary and learning about Jesus. One day she said to me, "Mom, if I were Jesus, I would make it so all the words are spelled how they sound." How very wise.

Last night Rachel was outside helping Shelby water the grass. Lilly wanted to go out but she was already in her jammies. When she said that wasn't fair I told her that she got to have cuddle time with me instead. From there we had a frustrating conversation where she kept saying "Do they?" meaning, do Rachel and Carson get to cuddle too. I thought she was saying "Today?" As in, do we get to cuddle today? So every time she would ask, "Do they?" I would respond with something like, "Yes today, Lilly. We can cuddle right now." Then she would get frustrated and repeat herself with something like, "NO! Do they get to cuddle?" And I would say "Yes! Today we get to cuddle!" Finally, with her close to tears and me not feeling much like cuddling anymore, we just looked at each other and started to laugh.

I love my kids! I am feeling very joyful at the thought of having these four little people in my life for eternity. They are so cool, and I like them so much! I can't wait to see what they do in life and how they develope as human beings.