Up They Go

I will regret this when they tell me they are moving to Joshua Tree to live in a yert instead of going to college, but we did have a complete blast....

Calvin on his way to the top

That little monkey on the right is 3yr old Leo

Spencer also heading to the top of the largest wall

Max

Cousins also loving it

Thank you Vertical Endeavors for your incredible (huge!) facility and no age limit. Leo felt like he and his 14-year-old eldest cousin were equals. The boys can't wait to do it again, though Calvin said that night (while rubbing his pecs) "Rock climbing has made my body feel all weird..." Welcome to soreness, my son. There will be more of that in your future.

Leo Talk

The word most frequently uttered by the 3year old? Uhm-ba.

Not uhm... uhm-ba.

Has something to tell you? Sounds a little something like this:

"Mommy, mommy, mommy, mommy.... uhm-ba, I, uhm-ba, was trying to, uhm-ba, do the, uhm-ba, uhm-ba thing. Can you, uhm-ba, come help me?

It has recently evolved to include calling me mom-ba.

I told him I was going to start calling him Leo-ba, which he didn't like at all. He has other little Leo-ism that you feel you should correct as a proper parent, but are so cute you kinda wish he would keep them.

He thinks the word "us" is "wus." Example: "Are the Sellke's going to join wus?"

Or another classic, begainst. "What team are my brothers playing begaisnt tonight?" Sounds kinda British.

"Our" is "were." "Are were cousins here yet?"

Sometimes I have no idea what he is saying until I put it through my mental Leo translator. I know some day he will speak like the rest of us, and hopefully do it with a degree of eloquence. But for now, I just chuckle at the sweet way he is trying his best-ba.

Soda

Our dear neighbors recently decided to kick the soda habit, so they purchased one of those carbonate-your-own-water spritzers thingamajigs at Bed Bath and Beyond. Just take regular ol' tap water, squirt it three times with this doo-hickey and BAM! Seltzer water. Omar couldn't get enough of this idea. Before long, they had a bottle with my husband's name on it because he went over there so often to get some.

So, being the wise wife that I am, I realized this was a birthday present that could not have come easier. Check it off the list. Bought, given, done! Wife of the Year.

He hasn't used it once. It's been 5 weeks, and it's like I single-handedly crushed his desire for soda water all together. He doesn't go to the neighbors to get any. He doesn't make his own. Its dead to him.

So tonight I decided I would at least make some soda for the kids. The kit came with a few syrup packets that make actual flavored soda and, in the end, even the sugary ones are still ~1/3 the sugar of real soda. Calvin, Spencer and Max were dancing around like it was Christmas morning because I am MAKING THEM SODA! I mean, for an ogre of a mother like me, this is truly unprecedented.

Now, you will notice I didn't mention Max. Somehow, some way, my eldest has come to NOT like soda. What kid doesn't like soda? He doesn't dig carbonation. Birthday party with soda? This one gets a glass of water.

Weird.

But, basking in the adoration of the little three, I bust out some homemade root beer (if you can really call anything "homemade" when part of it comes out of a squeeze bottle). There are hoots and hollers of joy. Lots of "Oooh, mom! It's GOOD!!" And with that, I kicked them outside so Omar and I could enjoy a moment's peace to eat our dinner and chat. Those moments are so few that we grab them when we can, to catch up, realize why we started this whole crazy adventure together in the first place.

4 minutes later, the littlest enters.

"Mom, I think I'm gonna barf."

Me? "No you aren't honey. I think you just need to burp. You aren't used to soda."

(And this is when a story's end becomes so blatantly obvious simply because I am blogging about it. It wouldn't really be worth writing about if we didn't all know how this is going to end....)

BLLLLLLLLAUUUUURRTTTTT!!!!

I'll have you know that I finished my dinner.

Make that THREE people in this house that now want nothing to do with the soda maker...

7 years ago

At this time in 2005, I was in a room with a very sore incision, trying to pretend morphine didn't knock me completely off my rocker, basking in the glory of no longer being pregnant and having two new beautiful babies in my life.

There were times that I didn't believe I would make it to this post, but you really can't argue that 7 year old boys just aren't little any more. They aren't babies. They are people who can be trusted to help out with things, people who can go to the park with their brother and be safe out of sight.

Cal, you are a boy with great conviction, focus and intelligence. You give me a run for my money when we both think we know better, but you are so clearly going to do well in this world. You will pick out a goal and work to it with laser-like focus. You love to figure out how things work and solve puzzles. Your fully belly laugh can bring your dad and I to giggles. I love you.

Spence, you have shown both your dad and I this year that, with focus and determination, you are a deeply observant, whip smart young man. Your ability to see a frog, turtle, butterfly or caterpillar in a thick of green is uncanny. And your eye with a camera is already impressive to even your photographer grandfather. You want to do good, and I think you are even starting to believe that you can. I love you.

Houston, we have a plan

My almost 7 year-old little Spencer made the following pronouncement completely out of the blue the other day:

Mom, when I grow up I'm going to be an artist.
And if that doesn't work out, I'm going to be a photographer.
And if that doesn't work out, I'm going I be a scientist.
And if that doesn't work out, I'm going to open a candy store.
And if that doesn't work out, I'm going to retire.
And when I retire, I'm going to sit in a big poofy chair reading a book with a big orange cat on my lap.

I just kinda stood there with my mouth agape before I started laughing.

So, at the very least, we have that figured out. Always good to have a plan.

My closet

DAMN my closet looks good. It is gorgeous. It isn't filled with crap I haven't worn in 6 years. Everything I see is something I might actually put on.

Why didn't I do this sooner?

To Do List

I have had a nice string of days off. So many that I actually have whittled down the ToDo list to things that I have ignored on the list for a long time. I have gone to Target. I have filled out all the requisite paperwork for summer camps. I have purchased some new summer tops. In summary, I have done the  things that I actually enjoy accomplishing.

So, what's left on the list? Clean my closet and organize the office.

These are the things that I have left for some time in the future "when I have a lot of days off in a row." Well, here ya go. That would be today.

But I don't wanna.

I have put them off for a long time because I don't want to do them. I will LOVE having them done, but it just sounds too painful. So, I blog about it instead.

That counts for something on the To Do list, right?