And I'm Done with Christmas (whew!)- the rest of the family, a couple of birthdays, long drives, and a game

Hi all-

So after opening Christmas gifts at home, we drove down to spend time with family.  Rinat was barely in the door from our trip when he asked, “So what did you get me?”  Now I had practiced what to do when you open a gift that you don’t like or one that you have already but I had apparently neglected the lesson on asking for stuff.  But GigiMar were happy to oblige at least.  So there was more unwrapping (Bek’s starting to get the hang of it at this point) and more toys to play with.  And that night a holiday party to attend. 

 And then the next day came and it was Rin’s 5^th birthday.  He woke up before the sun that morning asking, “Am I five yet?”  “Yes, Honey, you’re five.”  And as I rolled back over to snooze a bit longer, I realized he was undressing and he asked,  “Where are my size 5 clothes?” like he’d magically grown overnight.  How did I not notice?  And he also decided that, “I’m five and I can do anything I want now.”  This apparently includes making his own snack of cookies and candy and crossing the street on his own.  Um, NO buddy.  Not gonna happen but good try.  There was more family who arrived in town that day, more gifts (both Christmas AND Birthday of course), a fancy dinner, and a cake with candles to blow out.

The following day (yes, it keeps going), Nana came in town with auntC/uncleA and the cousins so there were yet MORE gifts and people showering our boys with love.  And yet ANOTHER party at the house that night to celebrate Ann passing her NP boards (anyone hiring?  She's good stuff!). 

The next day was pretty quiet thank goodness because the one after that was now our sweet Bek’s BDay.  Is anyone else exhausted just reading this?  It’s making me tired just to write it.  It started off with Rin wanting to know the exact status of his brother at 6 in the morning.  “Mom, is Bek two yet?”  “Yes Rin, Bek is two.”   And then he turned to his adoring little bro and said, “Oh my gosh, Boo, you are two years old!  You can talk now!  Say Water, Boo!” to which Bek answered, “WaWa.”  And he turned back to me and said, “Look Mommy, he can talk now!”  Now, I don’t love being woken up at the ass crack of down but hearing that little interaction definitely makes it a little more bearable.  This was the first birthday that we have spent with our sweet cuddly little Bek and it filled my heart to know that he finally had us to spend it with.  No more of just the nannies at the baby house giving him a kiss or two on his special day.  He was absolutely covered in kisses.  And cake icing too.  When I tell you that this boy knows cake, I mean he knows EXACTLY what to do with cake at this point.  So he dove right on in when he had his birthday cake at lunch.  And then we got in the car for a 6 hour drive…

We were on our way down to Atlanta for a UVa game.  The trip down was pretty uneventful.   But there was much excitement about the boys’ birthdays.  I would hear these little conversations coming from the back seat about how big they were.  One of them went like this:

Rin would say, “BooBoo!  I’m so happy that you’re 2 now!  Can you say ‘water’?

“WaWa”

“Can you say ‘pillow’?

“Mo” (that is ‘no’ for anyone who doesn’t know Bek)

“Can you say ‘restaurant’?

“Mo.”

“Can you say ‘dinosaur’?

“Mo”

‘computer’?

“Mo”

‘sippy cup’?

“Mo”

and on and on

..pause..

“OK. Can you say ‘no’?

“Mo” 

“Very good Boo!   You’re such a big boy!” as I laughed in the front seat.  I know I must be doing something right when I hear my Rin being so patient and encouraging with his little brother.  I’d like to think that he learned from my example but maybe that just my big head. 

A stop at Cracker Barrel along the way made the drive a bit easier to take and before we knew it we were checking into the hotel at 11:29 at night.  Have you ever tried to get a couple of super excited boys down to bed at almost midnight?  Yeah, not an easy feat.  But they went down eventually and the next day were just soooo excited to be there.  We have been talking about taking Rin to the Hotlanta aquarium for years now and it did not disappoint.  There were touch pools where Rin got to touch different kinds of rays (Bek, Mr. Doesn’t-want-his-hands-dirty was having none of it of course), a hammerhead shark, starfish and anemones and Amazonian rivers that flowed overhead.  But the coolest thing by far for me was the ocean exhibit.  There is a moving walkway that takes you under the most amazing tunnel of water ever.  Now I’ve seen fish before, and rays, and sharks, and the whole deal but at the Atlanta aquarium they have not just one but a couple of huge whale sharks.  They just glide slowly through the water above and around you and it is simply jaw dropping.  I highly recommend it to anyone who finds themselves in downtown Atlanta.  And both of the boys really enjoyed the dolphin show.  It was a little too Disney/Vegas for me lots of flashing lights and spraying water but they loved it and that’s all that matters.  Anything that keeps my little Bek making the sign for ‘more’ over and over again and puts a gigantic smile on Rinat’s face is a winner in my book.

That night was the big game and the boys could not have been any more pumped up for it.  And by boys, I mean Rinat and Peter of course.  Bek just sort of went with the flow as always looking around totally confused but just happy to be there.  When bother and daddy started pumping their fists and yelling, he followed right along. UVa lost but Rin could have cared less.  He spent half of the game yelling for the other team anyway- just for kicks. 

We got to our hotel room at 11:45 at night so we thought “what the hell,” got the kids in their pj’s and watched the ball drop in Times Square.  I can’t believe that they made it that long.  It was probably 12:30 in the morning by the time we got them down but really they were great.  And if you have a 10&1/2 hour drive coming up the next day, I highly recommend letting your kids stay up past midnight because then they spend a large amount of time sleeping in the car the next day.  Even when the trip turns out to be 12 hours due to a record number of bathroom stops.

 

And here we are in 2012.  Can you believe it?   Here’s wishing you a year full of adventures and lots and lots of love.

Love to all, -m