Been a long time in comin'. An entry to this blog I mean. Yes, the thrill of facebook has sometimes taken over, but mostly my life is just so full, and most often tiring. Samuel has been a phenomenal little guy--I can't help but delight in rubbing his fuzzy little head and eating up all his smiles which are ever and abundant, and I like to say that he is ever, ever, so close to being without sin, except for a few temper tantrums he's thrown in his high chair when I'm not dishing out the food fast enough. Seriously, I know all the moms out there have the best babies, but really--Samuel is the best baby ever! His one serious downside however, is that he's not sleeping great. He sure is always happy though.
Jesse continues to delight, however, and I just wanted to get this little conversation out there for the record. Just because I like how Jesse articulates.
J had a scarf tied around his neck and draped down his back, so I said "You look like a superhero." He giggled and said, "that funny, I don't even like superheros, I mean I hate them actually. I mean I don't really like a lot of boy things, like cars and power rangers and stuff." I said, "Yeah, you seem to like boyish things like sports and wrestling but you don't really like that stuff." It's just interesting to hear him articulate that because I've been noticing a couple boys this week who are really into hot rods and can name alls sorts of cars, and I've thought to myself, "Jesse is really not that kind of guy." Which isn't to say that he's not boyish. One of my favorite moments from last week was when the family from across the street, who happens to go to the same school came over and the boy Quintin and Jesse were kicking, shoving, karate chopping, and kung fu fighting each other.
Phew, I'm tired.
Tuesday, January 12, 2010
Tuesday, September 29, 2009
Repeats
Samuel is now 6 months old. Where does time go?! He is now with the crowd that rolls over, almost sits up, and eats mashed veggies and fruits. He is amazing and I'm so proud of the little rolls on his legs, as this is not something my other 2 had very much. (I am so excited that this baby is well fed!) I was flipping through some photos of Jesse when he was small, and, man, do those 2 (S and J) look almost identical. I am happily carrying Samuel in the backpack carrier now, something I enjoyed immensely with my other 2. (It was one of the things D wanted me to get rid of when J and L were too big to ride in it, but I was sentimental about it and couldn't let go. So glad.) Cooking is now made easier if I can just bear some slight shoulder pressure, greater girth in our small kitchen, and a bit of hair pulling.
Luci has been happily going to reception since it started. Even with how social Lu is, I did view her initial experiences there with a bit of trepidation. But today I realised that we are basically back into the complete comfort zone she had in nursery. She is running up to her classmates and cheerfully exclaiming their names, and they are happy to see her, and I am so happy to see her so exuberantly happy. I think i may have even made peace with the school uniform which has definitely taken away her self-expression through dress. I just don't like it when she occasionally says, "You know Mum, my favourite colours (NEWS ALERT!: my computer's spell check is preferring British English!) are black and light blue. The uniform is navy and light blue but Luci doesn't distinguish the darkest colours yet. The strangest thing has happened to Luci's speech. She has gone from speaking in a general English accent to Cockney almost overnight. Yesterday, I could not believe my ears. She is not pronouncing the d's and t's within words or at the end of words. So instead is instea and wanted is wa-ed with a big emphasis or where the letters are missing. This may bore you, but this rapid transformation is fascinating to me.
Jesse is amazing and showing us repeatedly that he has a HUGE love of learning. For several days in a row, when we asked him his favorite part of the day, he would say that it was when there was free time in school and he spent extra time on his writing assignments. Tonight, while I was putting Samuel to bed, he showed me some more work he had done during free time. It was sums of double digit numbers.
It was quite humorous last week when he complained that, after filling in his spellings chart, he wasn't required to make sentences with the words. He also came home beaming from his first in school piano lesson yesterday. (Somebody say "little Darren!")
Jesse has been doing hockey one day a week after school too and I am soooo happy as I felt he's needed to exercise the muscle of getting boy energy out in a sport rather than dissecting parts of the house, etc.
As, you can see life is good right now in soooo many ways. But it has also been trying as many things we've tried to be involved in are not going quite as planned. We are hoping that our visa situation works out so we can stay here without too much hassle and my friendships are reconfiguring a bit as I now don't have the same contact I used to have through Lu's nursery. Suddenly, I am having to engage with a new set of parents as I line up with Luci at the reception door. Call me spacy, but I totally missed that this would be a reality, until the first day of school. And I am missing one particular friend who has moved from her spot a block away. We can no longer do a late night food exchange and our children's schools draw us to different places. So I'm trying to work out the kinks of being in this new space, this sense of newness and rebalancing that is needed. But at the same time, it is really good and enlightening to see how God provides outside of the box. I guess I'm always learning to think outside my boxes and ways I assume things work.
Luci has been happily going to reception since it started. Even with how social Lu is, I did view her initial experiences there with a bit of trepidation. But today I realised that we are basically back into the complete comfort zone she had in nursery. She is running up to her classmates and cheerfully exclaiming their names, and they are happy to see her, and I am so happy to see her so exuberantly happy. I think i may have even made peace with the school uniform which has definitely taken away her self-expression through dress. I just don't like it when she occasionally says, "You know Mum, my favourite colours (NEWS ALERT!: my computer's spell check is preferring British English!) are black and light blue. The uniform is navy and light blue but Luci doesn't distinguish the darkest colours yet. The strangest thing has happened to Luci's speech. She has gone from speaking in a general English accent to Cockney almost overnight. Yesterday, I could not believe my ears. She is not pronouncing the d's and t's within words or at the end of words. So instead is instea and wanted is wa-ed with a big emphasis or where the letters are missing. This may bore you, but this rapid transformation is fascinating to me.
Jesse is amazing and showing us repeatedly that he has a HUGE love of learning. For several days in a row, when we asked him his favorite part of the day, he would say that it was when there was free time in school and he spent extra time on his writing assignments. Tonight, while I was putting Samuel to bed, he showed me some more work he had done during free time. It was sums of double digit numbers.
It was quite humorous last week when he complained that, after filling in his spellings chart, he wasn't required to make sentences with the words. He also came home beaming from his first in school piano lesson yesterday. (Somebody say "little Darren!")
Jesse has been doing hockey one day a week after school too and I am soooo happy as I felt he's needed to exercise the muscle of getting boy energy out in a sport rather than dissecting parts of the house, etc.
As, you can see life is good right now in soooo many ways. But it has also been trying as many things we've tried to be involved in are not going quite as planned. We are hoping that our visa situation works out so we can stay here without too much hassle and my friendships are reconfiguring a bit as I now don't have the same contact I used to have through Lu's nursery. Suddenly, I am having to engage with a new set of parents as I line up with Luci at the reception door. Call me spacy, but I totally missed that this would be a reality, until the first day of school. And I am missing one particular friend who has moved from her spot a block away. We can no longer do a late night food exchange and our children's schools draw us to different places. So I'm trying to work out the kinks of being in this new space, this sense of newness and rebalancing that is needed. But at the same time, it is really good and enlightening to see how God provides outside of the box. I guess I'm always learning to think outside my boxes and ways I assume things work.
Saturday, August 22, 2009
Big Day
I have to start by saying it's a big day in lots of ways because of how it was preceded. Summer has been hard for Darren and I. Actually summer started by a great, yet tiring for us (because of jetlag, kids, and travel) holiday with family in southern CA, as well as visiting friends in SF. (Blogging about that is to come, soon I hope.) Following our trip though, we were recuperating from travel while dealing with Lu and Jesse together on summer break. This is great and, many times a day, not so great because they cause such a commotion, whether by their volume or action, in rage or happiness. ( I was watching them wrestling/tickling each other on the bus yesterday and was thinking, "Yeah, this is great--they have such a great time together, but the space invasion they create, not so good." Actually I wanted to strangle both of them. Unfortunately, I couldn't so I just deprived them of promised bubble gum.
Then there's today. Started with the usual pancakes, followed by the kids watching something, while we read the newspaper. Actually D had a meeting, so I continued on my own and the kids ended up playing really well together. Still wanted to turn the volume down but still, pretty good, and no violence. When D came home around 12:30, I really wanted to take J to Stepney Green to practice on his bike. So we did it--just Jesse and I, no baby even. I generally view these trial type things (swimming lessons, etc.) with great trepidation but instead of my fears being realized, J's attitude was great and he accomplished so much that I'm amazed at. Officially, as of today, Jesse rides a bike. He may not know how to use the brakes yet, but it's official none-the-less, complete with our new conundrum of what to do with the fact that this opens up a whole new world. It was not even 5 pm and Jesse was hanging out with the boys on his bike in the parking lot. (I don't like him in the parking lot but I have an exception for sports, where there is great fun to be had and a great number of people.) Darren and I have to think up some rules now........Anyways, I loved seeing the look of determination on Jesse's face as he realized he was riding all by himself. It's priceless to see the thrill and the pride in him.
When I got home from the date at the park with J, I had Luci time--because I wanted it, and Darren needed to go back to the park with J to see his accomplishments. So Luci and I did our nails. We did the full set for Lu and toenails for me in a raspberry color. I decided that painting Luci's nails is one of the best ways I can spend time with her. She loves it (hits all the girly spots) but it also is a good practice for her. This is because it requires her to sit still to be able to get something that she really likes. And even when it looks pretty, she has to wait even longer for it to dry. Somehow, she managed to smudge her big toenail on her left foot about 3 times but she made a good effort and perhaps sees just how wiggly she is. (I've realized lately how overwhelmed I can be around her because she is often too much of a sensory experience in an already extroverted life--she talks loud, and non-stop, and bounces around, and can't calm down easily. Quite honestly, she's exhausting.) So to find such a meditative experience to do with Luci is amazing.
And finally, we have put Samuel into his own room, where he rests right at this moment. I've wanted to get him out of this insufficient Moses basket for a long time, cuz it's rather cruddy and it lies next to my bed which is not enough distance to not scare the life out of him when I blow my nose. So I had my sights set on this move, and now that Darren has screwed it together I am satisfied. Yet a bit sad to remove that wonderful, warm, mostly content, yet waking way to much, presence in my room. My little snuggly guy is gone yet I am happy to embrace the energy and fun we can have together during the day when I get some sleep. I am really hoping for sleep as it seems I have barely slept more than 4 hours at a stretch since he came home and it's really started to get to me. With summer being here, I have not been able to cope. Until today when the kids were on their best behavior. It's been a great day!
Then there's today. Started with the usual pancakes, followed by the kids watching something, while we read the newspaper. Actually D had a meeting, so I continued on my own and the kids ended up playing really well together. Still wanted to turn the volume down but still, pretty good, and no violence. When D came home around 12:30, I really wanted to take J to Stepney Green to practice on his bike. So we did it--just Jesse and I, no baby even. I generally view these trial type things (swimming lessons, etc.) with great trepidation but instead of my fears being realized, J's attitude was great and he accomplished so much that I'm amazed at. Officially, as of today, Jesse rides a bike. He may not know how to use the brakes yet, but it's official none-the-less, complete with our new conundrum of what to do with the fact that this opens up a whole new world. It was not even 5 pm and Jesse was hanging out with the boys on his bike in the parking lot. (I don't like him in the parking lot but I have an exception for sports, where there is great fun to be had and a great number of people.) Darren and I have to think up some rules now........Anyways, I loved seeing the look of determination on Jesse's face as he realized he was riding all by himself. It's priceless to see the thrill and the pride in him.
When I got home from the date at the park with J, I had Luci time--because I wanted it, and Darren needed to go back to the park with J to see his accomplishments. So Luci and I did our nails. We did the full set for Lu and toenails for me in a raspberry color. I decided that painting Luci's nails is one of the best ways I can spend time with her. She loves it (hits all the girly spots) but it also is a good practice for her. This is because it requires her to sit still to be able to get something that she really likes. And even when it looks pretty, she has to wait even longer for it to dry. Somehow, she managed to smudge her big toenail on her left foot about 3 times but she made a good effort and perhaps sees just how wiggly she is. (I've realized lately how overwhelmed I can be around her because she is often too much of a sensory experience in an already extroverted life--she talks loud, and non-stop, and bounces around, and can't calm down easily. Quite honestly, she's exhausting.) So to find such a meditative experience to do with Luci is amazing.
And finally, we have put Samuel into his own room, where he rests right at this moment. I've wanted to get him out of this insufficient Moses basket for a long time, cuz it's rather cruddy and it lies next to my bed which is not enough distance to not scare the life out of him when I blow my nose. So I had my sights set on this move, and now that Darren has screwed it together I am satisfied. Yet a bit sad to remove that wonderful, warm, mostly content, yet waking way to much, presence in my room. My little snuggly guy is gone yet I am happy to embrace the energy and fun we can have together during the day when I get some sleep. I am really hoping for sleep as it seems I have barely slept more than 4 hours at a stretch since he came home and it's really started to get to me. With summer being here, I have not been able to cope. Until today when the kids were on their best behavior. It's been a great day!
Monday, August 17, 2009
Two Quotes I'm Savoring
One from Luci, and another from Jesse.]
When I was putting Luci to bed the other night, she said: "Mommy, I love you 150,000 roses piled up on a tree." So perfectly Luci, her being the dramatic naturalist that she is.
And this morning the first thing Jesse said as he came to on the couch, out of his sleepiness that is, was "You know Mom, if I knew how to ride my bike, I would just grab my keys, go out the door and hop on my bike." So cute, and big boyish, and timely, as we just got his bike on Sunday and he is seeming like such a big boy lately.
Oh, I must include Samuel, even though he is not saying any words of course. He is so darling and delicious, and he practices his vocal gymnastics at 6 every morning. He is rolling over and around and reaching for everything these days. Just a matter of time until he's close to smashing my teacups and dishes from his vantage point on my lap.
I couldn't stand him staring at me the other afternoon so I just popped some banana into his mouth. I also forgot that bananas make babies' diapers look wormy. (If only Bela could have seen it (my neighbor upstairs) since she's been wanting me to give him banana since he was one month old.)
When I was putting Luci to bed the other night, she said: "Mommy, I love you 150,000 roses piled up on a tree." So perfectly Luci, her being the dramatic naturalist that she is.
And this morning the first thing Jesse said as he came to on the couch, out of his sleepiness that is, was "You know Mom, if I knew how to ride my bike, I would just grab my keys, go out the door and hop on my bike." So cute, and big boyish, and timely, as we just got his bike on Sunday and he is seeming like such a big boy lately.
Oh, I must include Samuel, even though he is not saying any words of course. He is so darling and delicious, and he practices his vocal gymnastics at 6 every morning. He is rolling over and around and reaching for everything these days. Just a matter of time until he's close to smashing my teacups and dishes from his vantage point on my lap.
I couldn't stand him staring at me the other afternoon so I just popped some banana into his mouth. I also forgot that bananas make babies' diapers look wormy. (If only Bela could have seen it (my neighbor upstairs) since she's been wanting me to give him banana since he was one month old.)
Saturday, July 11, 2009
Milestones
Wow!
This week marks the end of Year 1 for Jesse and the end of nursery for Luci. Next year it's reception (kindergarten) for her. Of course, it wouldn't normally be the end (the end of school is actually in 2 weeks) but since we are heading to CA on Monday, it was the last day for both kids on Friday.
I felt myself feeling really sad to mark this point, particularly with Luci. She still seems pretty small (immature) and yet she has spent so many hours away from home carving out a life (of play) for herself in her colorful school environment. Thankfully she has 2 amazing volumes of her life there that the teachers put together--it includes artwork, pictures taken of her and her friends, and things that she said. (In N Out burger even got a mention as the thing she was going to do on her summer holiday last summer when questioned about it, apparently) The upside of Luci's transition out of nursery is how much she adores the fact that she is going to "big school" next year where Jesse goes and had already familiarized herself with the ponies in Saturn class, which is where she will be. Amazingly, she was able to visit the big school with her key worker Rachel from nursery, who she absolutely adores. Rachel and Lu even managed to squeeze in making a book about it between the visit and a party at 2:30 that marked the end of international week at nursery. Luci got recognized at the party so it served as and end of the year party for her.
Jesse finished up with a trip to Greenwich park with his class. They announced the trip about 3 days before it happened and when J came beaming out of his classroom saying they were going on a trip, my heart sank because I thought he'd miss it but alas it was Friday so J had good closure to his time in Year 1 as well. Not to mention the kids and I went to a fun fair at his school today.
Samuel is amazing, still smiling at every turn. I've never had anyone in my life so happy to see me and life with him is just about absolute bliss I have to say. He's using his arms a lot now and bopping things around which is really cute to see. One of things that used to characterize Samuel's face was his intense forehead wrinkles, of which my friend Hannah said, "I have never seen that on a baby before". I thought he was just taking after me and he had them from birth. However, D just commented that they are gone and it's true! His head has now grown into all that extra skin I think. I think I actually miss his wrinkly forehead a bit. Time flies--he is already 3 1/2 months.
This week marks the end of Year 1 for Jesse and the end of nursery for Luci. Next year it's reception (kindergarten) for her. Of course, it wouldn't normally be the end (the end of school is actually in 2 weeks) but since we are heading to CA on Monday, it was the last day for both kids on Friday.
I felt myself feeling really sad to mark this point, particularly with Luci. She still seems pretty small (immature) and yet she has spent so many hours away from home carving out a life (of play) for herself in her colorful school environment. Thankfully she has 2 amazing volumes of her life there that the teachers put together--it includes artwork, pictures taken of her and her friends, and things that she said. (In N Out burger even got a mention as the thing she was going to do on her summer holiday last summer when questioned about it, apparently) The upside of Luci's transition out of nursery is how much she adores the fact that she is going to "big school" next year where Jesse goes and had already familiarized herself with the ponies in Saturn class, which is where she will be. Amazingly, she was able to visit the big school with her key worker Rachel from nursery, who she absolutely adores. Rachel and Lu even managed to squeeze in making a book about it between the visit and a party at 2:30 that marked the end of international week at nursery. Luci got recognized at the party so it served as and end of the year party for her.
Jesse finished up with a trip to Greenwich park with his class. They announced the trip about 3 days before it happened and when J came beaming out of his classroom saying they were going on a trip, my heart sank because I thought he'd miss it but alas it was Friday so J had good closure to his time in Year 1 as well. Not to mention the kids and I went to a fun fair at his school today.
Samuel is amazing, still smiling at every turn. I've never had anyone in my life so happy to see me and life with him is just about absolute bliss I have to say. He's using his arms a lot now and bopping things around which is really cute to see. One of things that used to characterize Samuel's face was his intense forehead wrinkles, of which my friend Hannah said, "I have never seen that on a baby before". I thought he was just taking after me and he had them from birth. However, D just commented that they are gone and it's true! His head has now grown into all that extra skin I think. I think I actually miss his wrinkly forehead a bit. Time flies--he is already 3 1/2 months.
Thursday, June 18, 2009
My big boys!
There is something qualitatively different about Jesse since he came back from his CA trip.
Truthfully, it does seem like being six is really a milestone of some kind. Since he came back, everyone's been commenting on how big he is, and seems, and how much he now is REALLY like his dad. J and I still have the same struggles, like him ignoring me, but it seems like a lightbulb has gone on for him in the sensitivity department. Last night when a few women from church were here and he couldn't sleep, I sat him down in the kitchen with milk and some peanut butter on bread. He said, "Thanks and oh, sorry to separate you from your friends."
Perhaps there's even a new level of confidence in him as he runs around with his friends outside--he's been squirting the neighbor boys with water guns. (Yesterday when he was done, he cleaned the outside of the kitchen windows using the water gun and rag with Luci.) Apparently, he's old enough to eat ice cream without asking his mom, too. Ike, a 10 year old, has now bought Jesse a few ice creams from the truck that comes everyday. It must feel so great to not have to go through me to get ice cream and to just have it bestowed upon him by a friend who's got money. Looks like I might need to talk to Ike about treating Jesse only once a week.
Sidenote: Luci has totally gotten in touch with her Luci/womanly/whatever charms and is now using them to get free lollipops and gum balls from shopkeepers. Several times in the last week now, I have said no to her requests on the way to shops. But somehow, the men offer her sweets from the counter or just tell her to take one. The first time it happened she came out of the shop and said in a sing-songy way, "HA, HA! The man gave me a lollipop."
Samuel is one amazing guy, and I have to say that that is an understatement. His favorite thing to do is to smile all the time. He's no longer the sleepy, slumpy baby. He likes to push up on his legs, and and watch Luci sing and dance for him--he loves her. He's developed a new squealy voice that is lovely and not too much. I can't get enough of him!
I love my kids--I really think they're great. I don't feel like I have lots of time for myself. That's obvious of course, and any parent knows that. But while I am finding them delicious, I also feel extremely disconnected from the journeys other people are on and it kind of makes me sad particularly where there are a lot of people suffering right now. There's huge health issues plaguing, and literally killing, family of friends of mine (not to mention that my Grandma is really old and I haven't seen her in ages!) and I realize I haven't connected with or even thought about these people much. It's a weird place to be--wanting to care for people but feeling like I'm at the whim of my own memory, which I know if overly affected by lack of sleep and busyiness. I don't like this fact. And on that note, I am off.
Truthfully, it does seem like being six is really a milestone of some kind. Since he came back, everyone's been commenting on how big he is, and seems, and how much he now is REALLY like his dad. J and I still have the same struggles, like him ignoring me, but it seems like a lightbulb has gone on for him in the sensitivity department. Last night when a few women from church were here and he couldn't sleep, I sat him down in the kitchen with milk and some peanut butter on bread. He said, "Thanks and oh, sorry to separate you from your friends."
Perhaps there's even a new level of confidence in him as he runs around with his friends outside--he's been squirting the neighbor boys with water guns. (Yesterday when he was done, he cleaned the outside of the kitchen windows using the water gun and rag with Luci.) Apparently, he's old enough to eat ice cream without asking his mom, too. Ike, a 10 year old, has now bought Jesse a few ice creams from the truck that comes everyday. It must feel so great to not have to go through me to get ice cream and to just have it bestowed upon him by a friend who's got money. Looks like I might need to talk to Ike about treating Jesse only once a week.
Sidenote: Luci has totally gotten in touch with her Luci/womanly/whatever charms and is now using them to get free lollipops and gum balls from shopkeepers. Several times in the last week now, I have said no to her requests on the way to shops. But somehow, the men offer her sweets from the counter or just tell her to take one. The first time it happened she came out of the shop and said in a sing-songy way, "HA, HA! The man gave me a lollipop."
Samuel is one amazing guy, and I have to say that that is an understatement. His favorite thing to do is to smile all the time. He's no longer the sleepy, slumpy baby. He likes to push up on his legs, and and watch Luci sing and dance for him--he loves her. He's developed a new squealy voice that is lovely and not too much. I can't get enough of him!
I love my kids--I really think they're great. I don't feel like I have lots of time for myself. That's obvious of course, and any parent knows that. But while I am finding them delicious, I also feel extremely disconnected from the journeys other people are on and it kind of makes me sad particularly where there are a lot of people suffering right now. There's huge health issues plaguing, and literally killing, family of friends of mine (not to mention that my Grandma is really old and I haven't seen her in ages!) and I realize I haven't connected with or even thought about these people much. It's a weird place to be--wanting to care for people but feeling like I'm at the whim of my own memory, which I know if overly affected by lack of sleep and busyiness. I don't like this fact. And on that note, I am off.
Wednesday, June 10, 2009
Moving On
It has been a strange time for us lately.
Following the birth of Samuel, Darren made a whole lot of trips. He is currently away in CA with Jesse and will board a plane to come home tomorrow. He does normally do a bit of travelling but his has been a bit excessive due to him needing to fit his work trips in before we surrender our passports with our visa applications in August. Our friends were without their passports for 4 months so we need to be prepared for the fact that this could happen.
Knowing that it would be a bit much for me to handle all 3 kids while he was away, Darren thought that it would be good if Luci accompanied him on his Kenya trip and Jesse accompany him on his CA. This has worked out great! It's been an experiment in seeing how our kids are without each other and enjoying them in those forms. Luci apparently never had an attitude difficulty at all on the whole of her Kenya trip. It was a bit weird here at home because I was so used to relating to Jesse in the presence of Luci. (In her absence I would take on conversing with Jesse or reaching out to do something with him and sometimes it just felt like we ended up irritated at each other.) Darren is now with him in CA and discovering (well D's pretty much suspected it all along) that Jesse is quite an introvert, not saying much during car trips (except to express that he is sick) and hunkering down to do art while being present in some of D's meetings. (I talked to my friend Mariah on the phone today in CA and she said she's been thinking of Darren and Jesse as twins because they look and act so much alike.) I've been at home with Luci surrounded by her almost constant joy--I almost can't believe I'm saying that because she can really give us a hard time, but without her most accessible rival J she is pretty much happy all the time. Perhaps the down side to the happiness is the level of enthusiasm that goes into her chattering from morning to night.
I feel like we have a new life to start with Samuel when he comes home. Samuel has really changed in the last 2 weeks while D has been away. He is really tracking with people. If they are moving he is watching and if they are conversing with him, he is doing his best to take in all in, often cooing things back. He loves when Luci sings and dances for him. Now there's a person who can fully appreciate Luci's exuberance, he just smiles and smiles at her and thinks she's beautiful I'm sure--everything Luci could hope for, an audience that adores her.
We've enjoyed experiencing our kids as separate people and it makes it exciting to think about what they will be like when they are older.
Following the birth of Samuel, Darren made a whole lot of trips. He is currently away in CA with Jesse and will board a plane to come home tomorrow. He does normally do a bit of travelling but his has been a bit excessive due to him needing to fit his work trips in before we surrender our passports with our visa applications in August. Our friends were without their passports for 4 months so we need to be prepared for the fact that this could happen.
Knowing that it would be a bit much for me to handle all 3 kids while he was away, Darren thought that it would be good if Luci accompanied him on his Kenya trip and Jesse accompany him on his CA. This has worked out great! It's been an experiment in seeing how our kids are without each other and enjoying them in those forms. Luci apparently never had an attitude difficulty at all on the whole of her Kenya trip. It was a bit weird here at home because I was so used to relating to Jesse in the presence of Luci. (In her absence I would take on conversing with Jesse or reaching out to do something with him and sometimes it just felt like we ended up irritated at each other.) Darren is now with him in CA and discovering (well D's pretty much suspected it all along) that Jesse is quite an introvert, not saying much during car trips (except to express that he is sick) and hunkering down to do art while being present in some of D's meetings. (I talked to my friend Mariah on the phone today in CA and she said she's been thinking of Darren and Jesse as twins because they look and act so much alike.) I've been at home with Luci surrounded by her almost constant joy--I almost can't believe I'm saying that because she can really give us a hard time, but without her most accessible rival J she is pretty much happy all the time. Perhaps the down side to the happiness is the level of enthusiasm that goes into her chattering from morning to night.
I feel like we have a new life to start with Samuel when he comes home. Samuel has really changed in the last 2 weeks while D has been away. He is really tracking with people. If they are moving he is watching and if they are conversing with him, he is doing his best to take in all in, often cooing things back. He loves when Luci sings and dances for him. Now there's a person who can fully appreciate Luci's exuberance, he just smiles and smiles at her and thinks she's beautiful I'm sure--everything Luci could hope for, an audience that adores her.
We've enjoyed experiencing our kids as separate people and it makes it exciting to think about what they will be like when they are older.