You see, there's much coaxing involved with achieving that happy, rested two year old of ours. Convincing- gently and sometimes not so gently- our bright little light take his afternoon recharge. Daily, there are tears, giggles, kisses, whines, coverings up, and sometimes (ok- often, I regretfully admit) there's some yelling on my part. Lately our nap time routine includes a pep talk about how "you need to rest to feel happy and have fun this afternoon," with enticing details of what may or may not be planned for the remainder of the day (park, vacuuming- he loves vacuum time, yogurt, a visitor...) And eventually... he settles. His eyes close and his little hands meet and tuck themselves under his cheek and he drifts off for that much needed rest.
It seems like a large percentage of life as parents of young children is consumed by the sleep situation. When and how much is a hot topic. It's generally the first thing everyone wants to know about when you have a baby: does he sleep? are you getting sleep? I never know what to say... My life revolves around sleep. "Through the night" is this illusive benchmark, and Naps are standard. Both are delicate and rely on each other for rested happy times. The getting there is messy. And hard. And rewarding. And reminds me of this book Jerrmy and I laughed out loud at while reading at our favorite local bookstore.
But other days, like today, shenanigans are minimal, and I'll likely be greeted by a wild haired sweet boy carrying his green bwanket sleepily but excitedly listing off the grand things we've planned for this afternoon, little gasps inserted here and there for added cuteness. "wap-poom (vacuum)... I eat whoa-gurt... go a-si-de (outside)" all with this drawn out quality that mimics the tempo with which I sold him on rest time. I realize how one day it will not be so. The stages of a child growing are temporary and fleeting. And no matter how ever many times or how ever much I ever do complain (to myself or anyone who's around) about how exhausting the coordinating everyday life with sleep needs can be, there are millions more elations and gratitude for my children's very being. To share in their childhood and to learn and grow with them is a gift. One that feels circular when looking down into bright happy eyes I am reminded that when "I rest... I happy."
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| (True story:: he woke from nap just as i imagined...) |
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It's MAY!!! And today Loukas is 29 months and Jasper Bear is 12 weeks! Which means, it's been nearly three months and I've yet to complete a birth story for Jasper's birth. I like to reread Loukas' birth story every so often, and did two nights ago before bed. It was written in the early weeks of my becoming a mother and I am grateful that I have it to revisit. To listen to my new mom voice and relive that wondrous night/morning that as my son was born, I transformed into who I would eventually grown to be today. And continue to grow...
Soon I'll share the morning Loukas became a big brother. Loukas made me a Mother and Jerrmy a Father. Jasper made Loukas a big brother. Hopefully, by his third-month-birthday, I'll have all the pieces to that puzzle of a lightning fast birth experience together.
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| These sweet rings are a treasure. Jerrmy surprised me last week with a Jasper Bear to match my Loukas Fox. A treasure indeed. |
The past week and a half have been full: park, friends, good food, and fun little happy moments. Of course, the order of our home has paid the price- clutter has over taken our dwellings, but oh the lightness we feel when our little people are fulfilled (and properly worn out :)
Our last 10 days in photo collages (created using a fun iPhone/iPad app)::
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| Monday last found Jasper and I on a rare evening outing. Jerrmy's restaurant hosted a fancy 5-course wine dinner featuring one of my favorite vineyard's wines. Jerrmy and his team out-did themselves; serving beautiful cuisine. The food was delicious and the company was most lovely. My best friend, Amanda, joined me with her new baby Oliver, who is five weeks Jaspers junior. We met a little over a year ago, are neighbors and became pregnant with Oliver and Jasper just days apart, thus have become sisterly. I feel lucky to have found this friend, and we really enjoyed our Monday date, however did not get a single photo of ourselves, together and/or with our babyies. |
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| Loukas is mastering Park time! |
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| 1: Our stroller is fun and my view of everyone's little feet is my favorite feature. That and the nice one handed turning. 2: The bunnies that frequent our yard in the spring are back! 3: found treasures in a great attempt at organizing that consumed most my Sunday, and was mildly successful... you know, the kind of organizing that first leads to a huge mess and ends in little-noticable difference but feels nice all the same... |
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| Everyone's handsy! Jasper has found his and nothing is cuter than watching him gaze in wonderment of his little paws. Loukas has long possessed jazz hands. And. We love it. Also featured:: a fun arrival from Aunt Brandy, my sister, who at long last mailed our Christmas gifts which where delivered last week still in their festive paper wrapping. Nice one, Sister. Christmas in April is Rad. |
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| The rain that washed away some unwelcome pollen and greened up our full Arkansas foliage made for a fun rainboot romp for Lou. He was drawn to the 'waterfall' that trickled from the gutters. He also found a rolly-polly, no doubt a wonder of childhood finds. |
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| There's a graveyard down the road that boasts a nice little pond with geese. We decided to take some stale bread and feed the feathered flock down the way. And there were Chicks(!) which are not very visible in any of these shotty iPhone photos, but oh how sweet they were. The geese, however, where unafraid and hissed and honked at us. These geese are obviously well fed as they snubbed our carrot shreds and, well, there was plenty of... eh-hem, goose s**t. Everywhere. So... that was fun... |
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| Amanda invited us to meet her at the Botanical Gardens of the Ozarks yesterday. Oliver and Jasper relaxed in the stroller in the shade. Loukas had a big time. He was red-cheeked, sweaty and left with a 'goose-egg' on the back of his head after an attempt to escape my grasp, fell and smacked his head on the side walk. Hard. I had to resist the urge to lecture him with the "see, that's what happens when you run from Mommy" speech and instead offered a cold drink and a piece of oatmeal cookie and relished in the fact that even though his head hitting the concrete sounded like a melon hitting the floor, his unfortunate injury lent to our less-tantrumy exit from those glorious gardens... Those toddler heads take a beating and it's never easy but gets less scary and the google searches of things like '28 month old hits head on concrete' are fewer these days, but I did watch him for the rest of the day and ultimately let the little guy skip his nap in favor of quiet time with books... (he later walked into the post office door as I opened it and dinged his forehead to even the score, and has a nice 2" blue-line bruise) |
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| Our Jasper Bear is mostly a quiet presence... what with a lively Toddler Brother to cast a shadow. Oh, but we are not without our special moments with this lovely, lovely, lovely soul. My GOODness he is so soft and dear. We are especially honored to stuart this little Bear. |
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| Lastly: who doesn't love a good pile of babies! Amanda and I have been making efforts to do weekly meet-ups with other Moms. Amanda is real great like that, a lover of community and an excellent influence in that way. It is true about the village and ours is expanding with many bright lights joining us. Top, left to right: Frances, Oliver Palmer, Jasper Bear, and Maudeline Bee. The Bottom right is an attempt to capture our Boys in their 'coordinating' outfits. |
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Til next time... Sooner than later, I intend. Time to rest for a happy tomorrow.
-n
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