It's so easy to forget the day to day little things that make life with kids such a joy. Especially for me - someone who forgets EVERYTHING! What did I eat for breakfast today? Ummm...not sure, maybe a muffin? Forget what I did a month ago - or even a week ago! It just escapes me like the metaphorical sand through my fingers. So in an effort to remember more clearly, I'm going to trying to start daily blogging (fingers crossed). That means my blog posts will probably be full of mundane, routine stuff that goes from day to day in the Rachal household. But better a little dull than nothing at all, right? I watch my kids grow and suddenly can't remember them being younger than they are today. Where did the time go? I ask myself. I see pictures of Olivia and Harry as babies and can't remember the way they felt in my arms when they were so small. And forget trying to remember Lily as a baby...that's ancient history! I think Nonnie's passing has also made me want to remember more. It's made me realize how precious the moments are - as cliche as that sounds. But when I think of Nonnie, I remember moments..small things that left an impression on my mind and in my heart. I don't know if writing down the daily events of our lives will help, but it certainly can't hurt. I am a teacher of writing who encourages her students to keep journals to write down their thoughts and spread their feelings thickly across the page - like peanut butter on a blank piece of bread. I remind them how important it is to think on paper - to let go of things by writing them down, hash things out, celebrate life. So if nothing else, I need to practice what I preach.
Sick Day
Today is Monday...a good day to start. Unfortunately, on this particular Monday, I am sick. I have contracted some viral thing that started out as a sore throat and ended up in my chest. Now my head and lungs are congested and I feel like a dull, throbbing version of myself. I took Joe's prescription cough syrup an hour ago and it's beginning to kick in. The edges of things are getting fuzzy and I won't be able to type much longer.
I slept in because I was feeling cruddy, but got up and fed Harry breakfast before falling asleep on the couch again. He was watching PBS and eating his muffin and drinking his milk, so he was happy. I shudder to think how many episodes of Curious George and Clifford he's watched this past year. The muffin, by the way, is a low-fat version of a banana chocolate chip muffin. I found a great cookbook called "Mom's Makeovers" that takes yummy, high-fat, high calorie, recipes we all love and makes them healthier. These muffins have no butter, only a little canola oil, and are made with whole wheat flour. The chocolate chips, I tell those who look at me skeptically, are there for the antioxidants!
When I woke up, I took Harry into the shower with me and tried to wake up a little. I kept coughing up the most disgusting stuff - Good, I thought, get out of there! The worst part is my voice - once the cold goes to my chest, I start to sound like a chain-smoking Demi Moore. Usually I pick up Olivia from ChristKids around 1:00, but Joe was sweet and picked her up for me and we had some soup for lunch. Olivia is so sweet and concerned when anyone is sick. She's already a nurturer. Daddy told her I was sick on their way home, so she came up to me and looked at me sympathetically with those big brown eyes and said, "You not feeling good, mommy?" I shook my head and she began touching my face and feeling my ears, the way I do when I check her for a fever. "You feel hot." she tells me seriously. The kids took naps and I laid down again for a little while, but my coughing kept waking me up. Lily came home at 4:30 - late again. I was getting ready for work and the kids were awake, so it was crunch time. I was out the door to teach at 5:00.
Talk,Talk
Watching Harry play on the floor today, I listened carefully to his babbling. He is now 2 years and 3 months old, and although he babbles a lot, he says very few decipherable words. "Tra" is truck - one of his favorite things, "Choo-choo" for train, "Kee" is kitty, "Joo" is juice. Basic everyday words with the endings left off. He also leaves the beginning sounds of some words off like "No," which comes out as "Oh" while he's shaking his head. But then he also says some phrases like "Where'd he go?" and "Gonna get you!" which sound very clear to me. I have been worried for awhile that he is speech delayed even though Dr. Nagatani says he's fine. I read more child-related articles than I should, and most of them state that Harry should have a much larger vocabulary by now. But I try not to worry about it. We read to him, talk to him all the time - I'm not sure what else we could be doing to further his speech development. Olivia was talking up a storm at this same age, but of course, she's a girl and I know that girls are different. There's also the fact that Harry is techinically the "baby" of the family and the older kids can talk for him. I'm just going to keep working with him and see if he can continue to expand his vocabulary. I know he understands what I'm saying, which is a good thing. If I tell him to go get his cup, he does it. If I say we're going bye-bye, he runs to the front door.
The Little Gym
Harry is even beginning to follow some simple instructions, which is something that just happened at our new Monday morning class at The Little Gym. The first week we were there, Harry just ran around screaming and laughing like a lunatic - he was so excited to be in there with all that cool STUFF! He was so keyed up, I couldn't grab his attention. But we're supposed to encourage them to join the circle and clap, sing, walk together - things he just doesn't have time for. I'm always happily relieved when I see some other mom chasing her kid around the gym because he's not the least bit interested in structured "circle time." But last week, during our third class, Harry joined in the circle for awhile and clapped, ran with the other kids, and then stopped - putting his hand out wide - when the teacher shouted "Freeze!" I was shocked - he actually knew what he was supposed to do! And the teacher, Miss Audrey, was impressed - "Great job, Harry, wow!" she praised him. I found out that Miss Audrey has two girls and a boy too, so she gets it. "They're like wild animals," I told her, and she nodded in agreement. "Absolutely! My son seems so aggressive." Hearing that again reassured me that Harry is indeed a normal little boy - fearless and full of testosterone. As far as the speech thing goes, I'm sure it's just a matter of time before he's quoting lines from Cars and singing "Jingle Bells" at the top of his lungs and we wish he'd just be quiet.
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