Gracie wants her back wheels off

Two days ago, the kids and I were playing in the front yard on an unusually warm winter day. Gracie approached me and in a soft voice said, "I think I am ready to take my back wheels off." She was refering to training wheels on a tiny 12 inch Disney Princess bike. I was doubtful. She just turned four two weeks ago, and this seems like a big step for such a small person. Honestly, I assumed after a few falls she would miss the sequrity, and the training wheels would be right back on. However, I did not express my concern to her. Gracie actually went and got me a wrench and we took them off. As I thought, she fell dozens of times. Sometimes badly enough to make me gasp. But she never cried. Each time she got back up and asked for a push. She was undetered by the pain and focused on the task at hand. (Sidenote: this is a child who screams bloody murder when I gently wash her hair. I did not know she had this kind of tolerance for pain.) Eventually several of our neighbors came out and started cheering her on. Gracie beamed from the praise and continued to amaze all who watched.

Now, two days later, she rides without training wheels like a big kid. I am reminded this is the same child who walked before she was nine months old. Gracie has a stunning sense of balance and has so far achieved whatever she sets her mind to.

Carter's First day of First Grade

I dropped my by off for his first day of big boy school. He wanted me to walk him to his class, and I am glad I did because even I was confused by the numbering. After I picked him up I asked him what he thought. He was very impressed by the desk lid, that opened up to a compartment full of school supplies. "I never knew there was such a thing mom." His world is full of wonder and there are still surprises ahead.

Sparkles

Gracie loves to add glitter to everything lately, I mean everything. She calls herself "Sparkle-Grace" and walks around sprinkling her room, the furniture, her baby brother and even her Daddy. After she had sparkled the back seat of my car, she annocuned "Sparkles make the yuckies go away". Good girl Gracie! Trying to make the world a better place one sparkle at a time.

"Houseless" but not Homeless

Since our escrow has been delayed (due to an incompetent mortgage broker) at least three, maybe four weeks. We are between homes, and living in a hotel for the time being. I feel disoriented, isolated, and sad. I worry about keeping the kids happy, fed and clean in our new transient life. However, Carter expressed to me today he is not at all unsettled. We were eating dinner in a restaurant, and when Carter was done, he asked to go home. I felt a pit in my stomach, and told him we would not be going home, but back to the hotel. He said, "The hotel is home mommy, because you are there."

Home is less about the walls the surround us, and more about the people we are surrounded by. Carter understands that already, and I hope he never forgets.

Crazy Day

We made an offer on a new home, it was accepted, and then we left for four days at Disneyland. Needless to say, this created a whole new level of work for me when we returned home. And, just for fun, Cameron needed his polio vaccine. So in addition to unpacking, decompressing from the Magic Kingdom, and comforting a fussy baby, I am struggling to compile paperwork for the lender. It is all very exciting but stressful.

Carter is capable of great moments of insight. It really is quite a gift for a five-year-old. He looked at me, clearly seeing the stress on my face and said, "Being a mom is a hard job for just one person, isn't it mom". My heart just melted, and I told him it is, but he is worth it all. I love him, and the person he is becoming.

LOL

Cameron laughed out loud for the first time several times last night. I took him to a Bunco game. He sat in his car seat watching several other moms talk and laugh. Pam was telling an animated story about the peacocks that plauge her in-laws neighborhood, and he laughed at her gestures. We all, in turn laughed at him, and he laughed back at us. That repeated itself several times. It is so rewarding to hear you children laugh. I remember vividly the first time I heard each of them laugh. I cannot imagine anything more delightful than a happy baby.

In referance to the above entry

Carter told me a few days ago that he is no longer "complicated". Very cute.