Tuesday, December 31, 2013

July 2013- Lake and a trip to Philly


Hi all,

We spent the Fourth of July at the lake and it rained all week.  But it didn’t matter.  Because we had the whole crew there and it was tons of fun.  Rin was really into the fishing and nothing would deter this boy.  Not torrential downpours, not parents who didn’t want to sit in the rain and fish, nothing.  He was up and ready to fish every single morning just like his hero on the show River Monsters.  He keeps asking if he can be a world famous fish scientist when he gets older.  I reply that of course he can.  He can be whatever he wants.  I just hope it’s something that gives him a chance to follow his passion.    




Every once in a while during the week the clouds would part and the sun would shine down.  And where there is rain, there are rainbows and we saw a few.  Bek spotted one on the way home from the Despicable Me 2 movie where we went when we couldn’t stand being in the house any longer.  What is it about rainbows?  They just make everyone stop and marvel at them for a minute before going on with their busy lives.






There have been two sort of major things that happened over our trip to the lake.  The first is that Bek has finally decided to be a big boy.  Despite the fact that he was fully capable of going in the potty for quite a while, he was just sorta not interested in actually doing it except every once in a while.  Well now, little man has been diaper free for almost a week.  That doesn’t mean that he’s been accident free but the diapers are gone.  We had 3 peeing incidents on day 1, one on day 2 (but then we stuck him in a diaper for the 5 hour car trip to the lake), one on day 3, and so far so good on the rest of the days.  I mean, it helps that he’s been running around either naked or in a swim suit.  But little man is now a big boy.  I’m so excited!







And also, our big guy is becoming Mr. Responsible.  Today at lunch time, I asked Rin what sandwich he wanted and he told me “PBJ…But I’ll make it.”  And as I helped him get what he needed, he also insisted on making little Bek’s sandwich too.  And then he called him to the table in that singsong-y little voice, “Beeee-eeek!  Lunch is on the taaaable!”  So bittersweet this mothering thing.  Because at the exact same time I am thinking how proud I am of my sweet boy, I am also thinking how sad I am that he’s so big that he doesn’t need me to make his sandwich anymore.  It’s such a tug of war on a mom’s insides.  And then it was back to regular life.  No one to entertain the boys but me myself and I.  Sigh. 




But we kept pretty busy.  We took an impromptu trip to Philly courtesy of the Washington, D.C. passport office and the lack of appointments available and the need of our sweet Bek to get one asap for our trip to Costa Rica (so excited!).  I figured we’d make lemons into lemonade and turn it into a fun family getaway.  And it was fun.   

We went to a yogurt shop and our boys are so sweet that they gave them cookies just for being sweet. We played hide and seek in the park with Bek yelling “ca-caw! ca-caw!” to help us find him (not sure where he got that). We played “Get my booty”.  We went to the beautiful children’s museum there where we went to wait for them to do Bek’s passport (sweet people got it done in 3 hours! So we didn’t have to stay the weekend).  It was fun.   






Bek just has this way about him that makes people want to give him things.  You know, like the passport people offering to do it in 3 hours.  All he has to do is give them a smile and a wave and everyone just loves him and accommodates his every want.  Learning might not come as easily to him as it does to Rin but I have no worries about him being successful in life.  People literally want to give him whatever he wants.  He has this magnetism and it will serve him well as he gets older. 

I love that Rin is so into learning. It's fun but its a little bit obsessive the way he dives into everything. He doesn't just learn a few things about a subject but he learns EVERYthing about it. The other night I came in to give him a kiss goodnight and he had his tiny flashlight and was reading about the intestinal track of a shark. He was genuinely interested in the function of the Whatever Gland and if we had one in our bodies (we don’t, it’s something that filters out the salt water I think). Is this normal? I think maybe no. But is it great? Yes it is. I think it will serve him well in life. He is not the easy-going kid that Bek is. He is more intense. I didn't realize how much so until I had that contrast. But what it means is that he is a go-getter. He doesn't take no for an answer. He knows how to stand up for himself. He wants to learn about everything. And that is a very very good trait to possess.  I wish I had a little more of it in me actually.  Maybe I wouldn’t be 6 months behind blogging if I did.  J
Love to all, -m   

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