Bedtime

Me: Goodnight, Max. I love you so much.

Max: I love you so much too, Mommy. I hope you don't ever die. (holding back tears)

Me: Me too. I will try my very best to stay healthy and safe. (Honestly, I don't know what to say to that. I mean, I can't promise him that I won't...)
You know you're the most special boy in the whole world to me. (Usually then he just keeps whispering that last sentence to himself over and over in pieces: the WHOLE world, the whole world, most special boy...)

Tonight he said: Mommy, you're my favorite girl. You're my favorite Mommy.
*deep, sweet, sigh*

Me: I had lots of fun swimming with you today. You did such a great job!

Max: Ya, I did actually.

Me: Ya. You were almost doing summersaults under water. That was so cool.

Max: Ya. It was.

Me: Goodnight, sweetheart.

Max: Goodnight.

And he settled into my arm and fell asleep. He still falls asleep the same way he used to as a baby... nestled in and under my right arm.

I have to admit, there are nights I get tired of the bedtime routine. With baths and teeth brushing and reading it takes a good hour and a half if not two hours every night. But I always love being there with him when his little body relaxes and his breathing gets heavy and he falls gently into sleep. It's sacred to me.

Alex likes to wrap up in her special blanket. She calls it her B. Lately, after I turn the lights out, she likes to turn her 'turtle' on. (It has different colored lights inside it and the shell part has all of these holes shaped like stars so that the entire room becomes filled with all of these bright little stars. She likes to go through the different colors: for orange she says Max, blue is always Daddy, and green is her color when I lye beside her. Then she tries to catch all of the stars. After that, she usually talks to her stuffed-animal posse who keep her company throughout the night.

(I had no idea how many stuffed animals there were EVERYWHERE until I had Alex. She LOVES them-Max could give a rat's ass about 'em-but she always finds them in every store we go to and she falls instantly in love. Last week I had to get a leak fixed in one of the car tires so I went to Big-O. They had a couple of those Little-O thingawhatevers all over the place. She was carrying three within seconds saying, "have them, Mommy." Needless to say we came home with one. I'd like to say it's because they were free, but I'm known to lay down a couple of bucks for those suckers just to avoid the scene. Hence the ever-growing-posse.)

She'll reach for her favorite-of-the-day and tuck it under and turn away from me and fall fast asleep. She used to like to fall asleep on my chest, but she's done with that. She's never been much of a snuggler. Sometimes she'll just cover herself and said favorite-animal-of-the-day entirely in her blanket and fall asleep... She sounds like an angel.

The kids are both taking a nap right now. It's strange when the house is this quiet - it's such a rare occurrence these days. I didn't quite know what to do with myself so I made this wreath from the grasses we had out front. ( I pruned and cut our xeric front landscape last weekend. ) I could have done so many things with this quiet time. I could have: washed the hand prints off the windows and sliding glass door, emptied the dishwasher, washed the dishes piled in the sink, mopped the floors, started some laundry, folded some laundry, made dinner, worked on raising donations for teacher appreciation week, called to make appointments I've been meaning to make for weeks, called friends, called my family, cleaned the bathrooms, downloaded some more music, read some blogs, read one of my new books, dusted, watered the plants, searched for all of the missing toys and very important game pieces, picked up all of the other toys and very-important-absolutely-necessary-to-play game pieces that are lying all over the floor and put them away, put all of Dans' clothes lying all over the bedroom floor away, plucked my eyebrows, made some tea, and even taken a nap myself. But no, I had this queer calling to be crafty... and then to blog about it.

This is what happens when you're sitting on top of the dryer (while your mom folds laundry) and your brother slides the pillow he's been landing on (after launching off the washer) next to the dryer and tells you to try it too and jump.

He looks like he's having fun so you say, "OKAY, MAX!", and off you go (while your mother is in the next room putting clothes away, of course) - only the dry rack is in the way and you end up partially landing on it. Next thing you know, your brother is telling you how sorry he is and how much it looked like THAT hurt! This is what happens a lot when you do what your brother says...

Thanks, Mom!

Dan and I skiing the trails at Devil's Thumb Ranch. We had a great weekend!

La La

Alex loves to watch and feed the fish when Max is in school. She stands there saying, "HI FISH! HI! Hi Fish!" and then listens for them to respond. She really loves animals...especially dogs!

The other day when I was putting Alex down for her nap, she started singing the ABC's to herself. It sounds something like:
a b c d _ f g _ i _ k _ _ m n O P _ r s _ _ v W _ Y Z. Noooooowwww _ _ my bc's ne na nuh _ sing _ me! YAY! (clap, clap, clap) YAY ME! She sang the song three times. Most of her letters are pretty clear and she carries the tune really well. After each song she clapped for herself at the end and then said, "Yay me!" She says, "Yay me!" a lot when she does something she's proud of. I think it's perfect. I should definitely say that to myself more.

I just cut her hair last week. For the most part she sat there so still for me and was very cooperative. At one point she even looked in the mirror and said, "Mommy cut. Like it!" I told her I thought it looked cute so she looked at herself in the mirror again, smiled and said, "Ya, cute!" Words cannot even describe how this hair cutting experience with her differs from the ones I have with Max...

When you point to the color orange and ask her the color she says, "Max." When you point to the color red and ask her the color she says, "Mine."

She refers to herself as La La. For the longest time we didn't know what she was talking about until one day we asked her what her name was and she very clearly said, "LA LA!" She thinks it's really funny when we call her that.

We went up skiing on Sunday. Max did really well on his little skis. He got some good gliding in and is getting a lot better at getting up by himself when he falls. He INSISTS on using his poles and actually does amazingly well with them.

Hey, You Live on the Planet Earth!

We have been reading about the solar system lately. Max likes to tell people he meets (especially other kids at the park) that they live on planet Earth. He has yet to meet an equally enthusiastic audience...

except Alex...she's always fascinated by everything he says. She copies everything he does these days...sometimes every minute mannerism and word. She's constantly saying, "Me too, me too!" Alex wants to be like Max so badly she doesn't like to admit she's a girl though she'll settle for Tom-Boy-Girl. We've been reading 'Girls Hold Up This World' to her - she really likes all of the pictures...she doesn't realize it yet, but her girl power is strong.

Max has a fish tank in his bedroom now with 2 orange and black fish (they're tropical but I forget what kind). I think he sleeps better knowing he's not entirely alone. I seriously considered getting him a dog, but with our luck it would just end up wanting to sleep with me or Dan as well. Anyway, he loves his fish and he loves helping me clean the tank more than anything. In this area he actually is a help. He can catch the fish in the net so much better than I can...so much better that I don't even want to clean the tank without his help. He's like a little fish whisperer the way he goes about it. He just holds the net in the water and waits...he keeps it very still...and he WAITS until the fish eventually swims in and then he pulls the net up. He talks to them very softly and calmly the whole time. It's the only time you will ever see this child that motionless and quiet.

I have a confession. I enjoy watching other kids throw tantrums in public. It's not that I wish tantrums upon other parents; it's just that it's so reassuring to know that I'm not alone and that those embarrassing fits are not a measure or indication of my abilities. You can avoid certain situations and mitigate circumstances as much as possible, but kids are kids and it's perfectly normal for them to fall apart sometimes. However, with society's general discouragement of meltdowns it's easy to feel like a bad mother when they happen. No matter how well you deal with them, your children inevitably cause a scene and you can instantly feel the judgmental eyes upon you. Usually mine are the ones falling apart, but there has recently been some realignment in the universe and I get to watch other kids fall to pieces while mine hop along happily. To whom ever is responsible: THANK YOU.

I also have an announcement. I have discovered the reason Max likes me to park on the left side of the parking lot at preschool. Brooke's mom always parks on the left side. He really likes Brooke. Apparently Brooke (who turns 5 next week) considers him her boyfriend and according to their teachers, they like to do everything together at school. They especially like to race each other out to the cars when we pick them up...