Hi All-
Oh my gosh,
you guys. I wish we lived near big
mountains because our Rinat absolutely loves to ski. And when I say loves, I mean like after 5
hours at ski school, he BEGGED to ski some more. The only way we could pry him away from the
slopes was by bribing him with a rice crispie treat from the café at Deer
Valley.
Before we
came, I wasn’t actually sure how well it would go, so the first day we just signed
him up for a one-hour lesson. Let me
tell you- he went absolutely bonkers
over it. So the following day he did a
whole day of ski school, 10am-4pm, longer than he goes to preschool at home. And he loved it and asked for more.
And after THREE
days of ski school and loving every single second of it, we had to try hard to convince
him to ski with Daddy instead of ski school another day because he really really wanted to do ski school
again. He loved his instructor, he loved
the other kids, and he especially loved the hot cocoa. But his favorite part by far was the obstacle
course that they call Candyland. Not
only did my little first-time skier have to maneuver around the cones and under
an arch, he then had to hop up in the air when he skied between two of the
cones. I was extremely impressed. Not sure I could do that myself.
Sometimes I
get frustrated with the extreme emotions that Rinat has. There is no even keel
with him. He is either ecstatically
happy or miserably sad or sooo frustrated that he can barely stand it. Has anyone read the book “Raising your
Spirited Child”? Yeah, I thought she was
writing specifically about him in the intro.
He is the very definition of spirited.
Well, though the tough times are extremely trying for us and for him
(poor guy), the up times completely blow them out of the water. When Rin is doing something that he loves,
like skiing, he is just the most amazing child to be around and I am in awe of
him and his enthusiasm. It is
infectious. He is not just happy, it’s
like he is so happy that his head is going to explode from happiness; he is
going to burst into flames; he is going to turn into The Flash and run so fast
that I won’t be able to see him. He is Superman. And it is marvelous to be a part of it. Sometimes I just have to sit back, appreciate
it, and soak up some of that excitement for myself. Why not?
He has enough Happy to spare and I just love that I get to be there to see it.
But this
trip was not only about skiing. We spent
lots of quality fun time with family.
Grandma Shay stayed with us the whole time in the condo. And UncleT/AuntL/Osk came for most of the
time too. And we had more
aunts/uncles/cousins come for dinner one night too. It was a family bonanza. This part of my family lives clear on the
other side of the country and unfortunately this means that I don’t get to see
them near as much as I want to (can you believe flight prices? Not to mention flying with a toddler is sooo
not fun) so we have to cram in a whole lot of QT into just a few days. And we did.
With the little kids, there was just a whole lot of hanging out and that
was just fine with me. The kids ran
around and explored the house and tried to find trouble to get into. Rin enjoyed having Ted around to be rough and
tumble with. And we just had fun being
together. It was good.
Some of the
hang out time was spent in the hot tub.
Bek kept saying “BuhBoo, BuhBoo” (bubble, bubble for anyone who doesn’t
speak toddler) and trying to escape out the back door to climb in it. He is definitely my water baby. Why is it exactly about cold weather that
makes hot tubs fun anyway? I really
could care less about them unless there’s snow on the ground.
There
wasn’t a ton of snow while we were there but they had fun with what there
was. All Bek was really interested in
was eating it anyway which is exactly the same thing that Rin did when we came
to Utah when he was Bek’s age. I thought
Bekers might be freaked out from the snow, seeing how he’s sensitive about
those things and all, but he really got into it. After eating it for a bit and making the sign
for more over and over again with this look of concentration on his little
face, he looked at me with the question in his eyes and asked, “WahWah?” Yup, he got that snow and water were sorta
the same thing. And- a biggie- he
pointed outside and said “No!” (snow).
My little boy is finally talking and telling us what’s going on in that
noggin of his!
Not to be a downer or anything to keep
bringing it up but sometimes it still feels like Big Pete’s passing is so new. It’s on everyone’s mind a lot I think. It's on mine anyway. And then other times it takes me by surprise
when I remember that we won’t get to see him again. When Rin went skiing for the first time,
I had such a rush of pride at his bravery to go try new things and I was so
happy to see the absolute joy on his face.
But my second thought, that caught me completely off guard, was that Big
Pete should have been here to see this.
He was just talking to us this summer about a ski trip and it would
have been so fun for him to be there to see it too. He too would have been so proud of our little
Rin. Rin is fearless and so full of joy
and I know it would have brought such a smile to Pete's face. But then, maybe he was up there
watching. Who knows? But if so, am certain that I know the words
he was saying. He was looking down at my
darling, fearless, maniac of a boy and cheering him on.
“Atta boy, Rin!”
And, by the way, so was his daddy.
Love to
all, -m
Oh, and Bek
decided to pee in the potty for the first time while we were in UT. I’m not counting on it happening again
anytime soon but it’s good to know he’s thinking about it. My big boy.
How did it happen so fast?
