He Did It!

Max went off the diving board yesterday for the first time. It's been his goal since he first submerged his head in the water last Spring. When we started swimming outside this summer he would see all the kids lined up and jumping off the board and he so badly wanted to be able to do it. We told him he had to learn to swim first so that he would be able to swim in the deep water by himself... and so he did.

He tried going off the board last week, but got to the edge and was too scared to go so he turned around. He was still pretty scared this week, but he really wanted to do it. For his first time, Dan was able to be in the water nearby. And I cried, of course, as I watched him. I was so proud of him for working so hard to be able to do that... at four! He was so pleased with himself!!!!

He started crying at bedtime last night... Dan asked why... and he said, I don't want the first-day-I-went-off-the-diving-board to be over.

Floating in Bubbles

This was one of those rare times when the bath had a calming effect on both of them. Usually water is flying everywhere, the playful noise is deafening, and they are yelling at me - "Go away, Mommy... so that you can't see what we are going to do... Mommy, go fold some clothes!"

Return from the Void

It’s been about three months since my last post... every time I’ve slumped into this chair at the computer to write I’ve had absolutely nothing to say...nothing funny or eloquent or even remotely interesting... even when my finger stopped throbbing when it struck the keyboard. At least that’s how I felt. But my fingernail has finally come off and it seems a good time (completely absurd reason) to get back to the documentation.

This summer we camped at the Sand Dunes, visited friends in Durango, traveled to the East coast to visit Dan’s family, traveled to the West coast to visit Tootie and Fox, went swimming almost everyday in between, and on the second weekend in July we camped near Lake Granby... at one of the worst campsites ever. It was so bad, when we pulled up to our reserved site I just started to cry.

Let’s just say it was the the type of campground where you got nothing but extremely good views of your neighbors’ cars... where you constantly say to yourself...what the **** is the point of this?!... and then you see how fabulously happy your kids are playing in the rocks and dirt next to the fire, and roasting marshmallows, and then they’re unbelievably ecstatic to brush their teeth outside and get ready for bed because they can’t wait to be sleeping in a tent - in their own sleeping bag - with you!... and then you’re all, this isn’t so bad... tomorrow’s hike will be so good... ya, you’ll really feel like you’re in the mountains tomorrow...

Eight hours of constantly waking every 15 minutes go by and I get up and make coffee and it tastes soooo good and the kids wake up happy and everything goes pretty smoothly and I almost don’t even mind having to wake up in a parking lot because we had a magnificent day hike through Rocky Mountain National Park planned. Everyone was pretty excited when we all started hiking. Alex was in the backpack and Max was walking. Then, a quarter of a mile in... SCREECH!!! Max stops suddenly and declares, “I’m done with this. I’m tired.” It was a beautiful day, the scenery was amazing, and I just DESPERATELY wanted to HIKE. We were finally in the mountains!!! After all of the positive reinforcement, then deals, and eventually, pleas I could muster; I realized he really was - absolutely - done. So I gave Max a piggy-back ride... for the better part of about six miles. And it was well worth it. On our way out, we spotted this moose. It was one of the best moments ever.

Whew! I get out the door without crushing any bones. We are only running 5 minutes late as opposed to our usual fifteen, Alex has her enormous bed-head tangle combed out before noon for once, and Max is actually wearing a new shirt today without one once of protest. (Who is this child I think to myself?)

Usually we discuss traffic patterns on the way to school. Max is obsessed with knowing what all of the signs say and what they mean. So while I'm explaining what it means to yield and why sometimes you can make a right turn on red and sometimes you can't, Alex is bouncing back and forth in her car seat to the current song on the radio. I especially like the times when they are both rockin' out to the song on the radio...but more often than not they're telling me to turn it off because they don't like it. Occasionally there is a fight between them about whether the windows should be rolled down or up. I always win that one.

But today, today is different. Max is blowing his nose (into a tissue-hallelujah!) and all of the sudden he exclaims that his booger is ORANGE. I check it out at the red light. It's sort of orangish, but I don't want to burst any bubbles we're riding on so I agree with him. Then he blows again and gets more out and cries, "MOM, LOOK AT THIS ONE! THIS IS THE COOLEST BOOGER I EVER GOT OUT!" Alex agrees because he's showing her, "YA, Max. IT IS!"

So.. I felt I should record it... as with all of his firsts and special occasions: today Max blew the coolest booger ever.

stellar parenting

This week has sucked. I've been riddled with some achy, snotty, you-just-feel-like-crap all over, preschool plague, then ended up with the most disgusting case of pink-eye EVER, and just this morning - as I was running out of the house - I slammed my finger in the door! I slammed it so hard I actually heard the bone crunch!!!!

Do you know what hurts worse than natural childbirth? Fracturing your GDMF fingertip.

Do you know how many new words my children learned this morning when they witnessed my grace? Well, at least five. That's how many I heard repeated in the car on the way to school.

I am both intrigued and very afraid of what may come out the next time they hurt themselves.

'Tis the Season

The garden treats have arrived. Our first asparagus harvest was about a week ago and even with all the frost we've been having, we've still managed to save them and have a couple of meals. The best part is watching Max and Alex munch happily away...

Bath Time

Bath time tends to get a bit edgy when your little sister has a slight habit of shitting logs almost half the size of her body length into the tub. Such was the case a couple of weeks ago and Max has definitely not forgotten the incident. Tonight they were both taking a bath and Max had his goggles on so that he could see underwater and play. (I usually put so much water in the baths that it's like a small swimming pool for them. I know it's bad, but I remember taking baths in England when I was little in only 2 inches of cold water and it really sucked. So I go extremely overboard in making bath time enjoyable for my little prince and princess.)

ANYWAY, Max was underwater checking out the scene when all of the sudden he bolted out of the water exclaiming, "MOMMY, ALEX IS POOPING IN THE BATHTUB! GET ME OUT! QUICK, HURRY! GET ME OUT! Apparently he was too panicked to remember that he can actually get out himself. Alex was looking at him like, "WHAT?! I did? WHAT???" So I assessed the water and found a brown, toy dog (one of those animal figurines) lying close to her bottom. I laughed and told Max and he gave a big sigh of relief. Then he went back to patrolling the waters.

I cannot blame him one bit.