Every Little Girl's Discovery

My 2.75 year old daughter took my hand and said "I have to show you something!"

I had just gotten back from a job interview for a position I absolutely did not want. It was far away, way beneath my skill level and in an old, cluttered, tiny office. What was worse, it was a difficult interview. The kind where they put you in an uncomfortable spot just because they can. And all the while I'm thinking... did you even look at my resume? I am beyond qualified for this. But I digress! I was in a bit of a mood and didn't really want to play around, but this was obviously important to little A, so I let her lead me in my suit to a corner of the dining room.

She stopped, looked and me and pointed to a large glass frame. With wide eyes, she said "Mommy, your dress!" There was her mommy in a real princess dress. It was the most amazing thing to her. I smiled, "Oh, yes, honey that was mommy and daddy's wedding day. You get to wear a very special dress when you get married." "When you get married?" she asked. "Will I get to wear one?" "Of course," I said. she couldn't contain her excitement. And thus the seed of every little girls dreams of weddings and beautiful white dresses was planted.

I got to tell her that I was saving my wedding dress for her and someday she could try it on. As these words were leaving my lips it actually occurred to me that - I am in fact saving my dress for her. I'd never really thought about it before. I have a daughter now who might actually want to wear it. That is about as cool as getting to pick out the dress for the first time. Granted, styles will change and more than likely she will want her own, but nonetheless. It felt like one of those incredible mother-daughter moments.

"Can I try it on now?" she asked. "No, honey, it's too big for you now." The dress has been in it's preservation box for 11 years. (Despite a tornado throwing it from my bedroom into the backyard - the box and dress stayed intact! But that's another story.) I look forward to a day when we will break it out of its preservation status and let it surround a real person again. For now, we'll enjoy looking at the pictures.

Night Walks

Z turns the sweet on when he's alone with you. The loud, boisterous, attention-seeking jabs subside and he becomes contemplative, charming and curious. When he asks for alone time with me, I try to make it happen so I can see this side of him. He wanted to take a walk just with me after dinner even though the sun was only an inch from being down. I told him I had to give A a bath and put her to bed first. And he waited patiently all the while.

We walked around the long J that our street makes, taking note of the sound of crickets and katydids that we didn't hear the last time we took a night walk to look for lightening bugs. We decided the lightening bugs had gone hibernating and the crickets took their place. I love the sound of August. We caught sight of the first star in the sky and made a wish. It didn't take long for Z to share it, even though he worried a little it might not come true. He can't keep any secrets. (I can't ever tell him what's inside the presents I buy for his friends.) He's already planning his Christmas and birthday gift list and he wished for a trampoline. A couple days ago, he decided he wanted the small circular trampoline you can fit in the basement. Today, that has graduated to a giant trampoline that would go in the back yard. I'm not sure how generous Santa will be able to be this year though.

Further along on the walk he asked "will I still live with you when I'm 21?" I said "yes, you'll be in college and will come home during the summer and for Christmas break." He said "how old are you?" I said 36. "And you'll stay 36 when I'm in college?" he asked. Ha, ha, I only wish that was how it worked. He said "Oh, that's right, you're getting older too, but not growing any bigger, right?" He has always had trouble with the concept that adults have birthdays and get older, but don't grow taller every year like kids do. He doesn't understand how Papa can be older than Daddy when Daddy is taller than Papa. Or how he is bigger than Owen but Owen is older. We have this discussion a lot. I love the mysterious ways a child's mind unravels concepts like this. How they get stuck on learning some basic ideas, and fly through an understanding of many more complex issues. And I especially like the concept of me staying 36 until he goes off to college. :o)

Sorry with the toes

Z is spending two whole weeks away seeing all the grandparents and cousins. It's been a lot more quiet around here and A misses her brother. But it's nice to just spend time with her and let her have the whole spotlight. Lord knows, Z doesn't let her have much of it most of the time. At age 2, she tends to say funnier things, so her comments fill most of these posts so far.

She wants to be a big girl now. Wants to do what she sees grown ups do. So she wanted to push me in the porch swing instead of the other way around. I was afraid it would knock her over completely. But I let her slowly push and watched her read the speed of the swing and figure out the distance she needed to stand away from it as it swung back at her. It bumped her plenty of times, but she was ready for it and loved being the big girl in charge of the swing. "Hold on tight!" she said, as I always say to her on the swing. It kind of made me wonder if she knows why I say that to her. You can't really fall out of a porch swing the way you can topple easily out of a pliant, rubber, swingset seat. My mommy fear sets in, can she feel how she needs to hold on when she's in that seat? We've just started swinging really high these days. Silly thoughts, of course she can.

She kept pushing the porch swing higher and higher and my toes bumped into side. She took it as her fault and wanted to be polite. She said "Sorry with the toes, mommy!" so precious.

Morning Cuteness

This morning A woke up and I could hear her chatting away to herself in her crib. She called to get out. I walked into her still dark room (the dark blue drapes are a great thing in the summer to keep the sun from waking her up!) The first thing she said to me as I reached down to pick her up was "I only have one mommy." Awwww! That's right, baby, you do.

Yesterday, her first words to me were "Why are your eyes open?" Which is funny, because many times she wakes up way too early, or just haven't gotten enough sleep that night. And I walk into her room still groggy and eyes half open. I pick her up and we go snuggle back in my big bed for a few minutes until I can fully wake up. Or until she starts whining for TV or breakfast. Which is usually 30 seconds after I close my eyes again.

barefoot

A's shoe slipped half off and she gave a little 2-year-old trying to be 13-year-old sigh in irritation as she struggled to get it back on. Then she realized something and kicked it off completel. "I don't need shoes!" she giggled. An hour later she's on the old deck boards and Daddy's big rule is no barefeet on the deck. Seeing her shuffle around the boards and foreshadowing an evening of wrestling a splinter out of a tiny foot he said "A, this is why you need to have shoes on." She confidently replied "I just have my FEET ON, daddy, ok?!"