So we are back from KP and on to the lake. As usual, we were so excited to get on our
way and settle into lake life. The sort
of life that is calmer and slower. This
is a place where there are Poptarts for breakfast and cookies for lunch.
Where bedtimes are forgotten about and a dip in the lake counts as a
shower. I sit and I watch my sweet boys as they fearlessly jump from the
dock and spend hours trying to catch that elusive fish which finally comes with
the biggest smile imaginable. In short, it's heaven. I love hearing the
kids play with Peter. He sets the work aside and gives them his full attention
and they soak it up.
Rinat kept at the fishing thing for hours
and hours. This kid is tenacious. It might make him a challenge to raise because
he keeps at it like a dog with a rat, but it sure will serve him well as an
adult in the work world. Hard work is no problem for him. He just perseveres.
Aibek is just a little charmer and wins people over and gets them to fall all
over themselves to put a smile on his face. He has this way of getting out of
trouble just with a look that makes everyone laugh and diffuses the
situation.
One day while we were there, the Petty’s
came to play. There was fish hunting. And there was pirate ship pretending. I
just love their pretend play and how they all work together to make the magic
happen. They had so much fun and for an
entire day everyone got along. All five
of them just had an all out blast. And
all four adults too.
Then Peter had to head back to work in
DC. While we had Gigi at the lake, I
decided to take advantage. So I left
Bekkers there to play with his grandma and Rin and I drove off for the day to
visit a sleepaway camp for next summer.
We got up really early and drove all day. He was so excited when we started out and as
we got closer and closer the mountains got bigger and bigger and his excitement
grew until he was about to burst. There
were no electronics, there was only talking.
I learned so much about his life and his thoughts and all of it without
Bek chiming in. Rin absolutely loved the
camp we visited and said he 100% wants to go there- that he doesn't want to
look at any more. We’ll see. I think it was the tons of salamanders that he saw
in the lake that sold him. Or the grilled cheese at lunch. Or the zip line. Or
the fact that all the kids were having so much darn fun. I dunno.
But he’s excited at the thought of being on his own for a week next
summer. As am I. He will be missed and I’m sure he will miss
home at least a little but I know that the amount of fun he has will outweigh
any home sickness.
And then there were 3... Gigi and Mar
went back to town, our friends were gone, and Peter had to head back to work in
DC so it was just the boys and me. There
was fishing and swimming and digging in the sand and catching minnows but it
was much quieter and the kids missed having other kids around to play with.
On Weds morning, when Aibek hopped into the bed with me he asked
"You make me bekfast?" in his little singsong voice, he then asked,
"Why Dada not comin' round? My miss him." And when it was time to go home, we were
pretty much ready. Well, except that
poor Bek had no idea what was waiting for him when we got back. Little did he know, but my sweet boy was coming
back home to have surgery. Yup,
SURGERY.
I
was nervous because of what had happened with Rinat back when he was 14 months. I was a basket case actually. The Doc said he had extremely big tonsils and
adenoids but that it was no problem and it would be fine and not to worry and
Children’s is prepared for anything and that they would take good care of him. But still, I worried. That’s what moms do. But our sweet baby was brave even when they
were carrying him off to the induction room.
He was smiling and blowing kisses to me as he disappeared into the next
room while I tried to put on a brave face so he wouldn’t be scared. And- of course- all went well and there were
no issues.
First words out of his mouth were "My
have bekfast?" He was so hungry. There is no doubt about it- my kids are
warriors in the truest sense. Just as Rinat did after his scary surgery back in
2008, Aibek just bounced right back after his like nothing happened. These kids
of ours are amazing. Rinat was worried about him and said he might cry when he
saw him. Happy tears he said. We always talk about he day we almost lost him
and I think it terrified him to think it could happen to his little brother. So
I thought it was really important to show Rinat that he was alive and well.
Rinat had been talking since we scheduled it about how he felt bad for him and
he was going to get him a present to make him feel better. So after camp that
day, Peter brought Rin for a visit and they stayed for dinner and Rin was just
so incredibly sweet with him. Bek and I had to stay the night which was
miserable but 1 grape Popsicle, 1 giant lemon poppy seed muffin, 3 Mac n
cheeses, 5 chocolate ice creams, and an apple juice later we were outta there
and back to our house for recovery. He came out of the gate all gung ho
and as the week went on he actually seemed to be feeling worse instead of
better. There was a lot of crying during that week but overall he was a
trooper.
Poor Rin’s adoption day was overshadowed by
Bek's surgery. I told Rinat that he's lucky bc I don't even have an adoption
day "What???!!! No adoption day?!" That's so SAD!" But we got it together and did a trip to the Zoo,
which is always a favorite. He got to
pick where we went and what we saw. And
he felt special which is pretty much the whole point. So it was a success as far as I’m
concerned.
There has been some downtime for Rin and he
has been filling it by finally reading fiction books on his own. I am not sure what prompted it (Harry Potter
maybe?) but I’m glad he’s finally into it.
He has been reading the Wimpy Kid books and gets to watch one of the
movies now that he’s read one of the books.
They’re sort of funny in a totally inappropriate way. Just good little boy fun.
Rin could barely contain his excitement
about going to Camp Calleva again. It was a countdown of days until he
got to go.
Every day he comes home and is so covered
in dirt that I have to scrub down the tub after he gets out of it. It’s
good, dirty fun. I was asking Rin one
morning what he was doing today at camp and he said “Climbing wall” not very
excited at all. I asked why he didn’t
like it and he said it scared him. I
talked to him about that things that sometimes scare you and challenge you are
good because it’s good to do things that you don’t think you’re able and then
you can be really proud of yourself afterwards and that they wouldn’t get him
to do anything dangerous. After he got
home from camp that afternoon he ran off to play and it wasn’t until I was
tucking him in bed that night that I remembered to ask “Oh yeah, Hon. How was the
climbing wall today?” and he got a big smile on his face and told me “I went
all the way to the top, Mom. I was really
scared but then I did it anyway and I got to ring the bell. And it made me feel good about myself that I
could instead of being too scared.” I,
of course, told him how proud I was and teared up. No surprise there for either of us. It wasn’t so much that I was proud of him, it
was that I was happy that he was proud of himself. Because really in life it’s more important to
be in competition with yourself than with anyone else. And I loved that he challenged himself to do
it and was victorious. Seeing him go out
of his comfort zone inspires me to go outside of mine.
Love to all, -m
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