Letter to Peyton 5 yrs

Peyton,

You are five years old. I can’t believe how old you are. At the same time it’s really hard to believe you have been in our lives for only five years. I can’t imagine what the would would be like without you in it. You make every day special.

You are such a smart little girl. I’m amazed at how your brain works. You taught yourself to read almost to the day you turned four. Now you can read almost anything we put in front of you. You love learning about new things. Geography, the weather, lots of science related things. You have always been afraid and interested in tornadoes, and lightning but this year, in the world, we had three devastating earthquakes in Chile, Haiti, and China. Suddenly you made the connection to Volcanoes. That has been your new obsession and fear. You made sure you knew where most of the worlds larger volcanoes were and told us we could not go there. Italy was your main concern and Mount Vesuvius. I have no idea where you first learned about it. Grandma Ginger bought you a book about volcanoes and I think you read most of it the first week you had it.

Of course Shortly after that, Grandma and Grandpa Harrington went to Italy got stuck in Europe because a volcano in Iceland decided to erupt and then another in Guatemala shortly after. Grandma and Grandpa were stranded in Europe with your Great-Grandmother for an extra two weeks but you were okay because we told you they were safe.

This summer right before your fifth birthday you graduated from Pre-K. It was very exciting to see all of your classmates and help you celebrate. In the fall you will start kindergarten. Dad and I have been so worried about where to put you in school. We are pretty sure they will want you to skip a grade but we’d rather you advance in a few areas but stay in your grade with kids your own age. We will see where the year takes us I suppose.

You are such a great kid and so smart. Sometimes I worry that we expect too much of you because you don’t act like a normal five year old. Sometimes you are like this little adult. People are always so amazed by you and all that you can do. Your brain works in all these amazing ways. The connections you make are astounding. You are surprisingly pretty good with your little brother. He’s a handful and you can be very patient with him. Sometimes you have to make the big sister sacrifices to make him happy and you are pretty good natured about it. (Most of the time).

You are a really cool kid and I’m so glad you are mine!

Love,

Mom

Great Quote

Know you what it is to be a child?... It is to believe in love, to believe in loveliness, to believe in belief; it is to be so little that elves can reach to whisper in your ear; it is to turn pumpkins into coaches, and mice into horses, lowness into loftiness, and nothing into everything, for each child has its fairy tale godmother in its own soul. ~ Francis Thompson

This is it.

I wish I was creative enough to have something to say each day. Sometimes I feel like the creativity- if I had any to begin with- has been completely sucked out of me. I don't have time to think about things most days- unless I'm in the car and you can't very well blog from the car can you? I suppose some people might but I'm not that talanted at multi-tasking. So here we are, this is about it for today.

More Peytonisms

Peyton: Mom do I look pretty like this?
Me: Peyton you always look pretty.
Peyton: even when I'm naked?
Me: Ummmmmm
Doug: ((Laughing))

A Letter to Xander Who's One

Xander,

You are a year old today. Where has the time gone? I still feel like I’m getting to know you and you have been in our lives for a year now.

You are the most amazing little baby. You learned to walk at 10 months. You were so motivated to get moving. Maybe because your two big sisters walk around everywhere and you are desperately trying to get in on the action. Now you follow them around and try to play with them but it’s hard because you are so little.

You are most fascinated by things that aren’t actual toys, including your sister Peyton, and the cat Hercules. Your face just lights up when Peyton plays with you or Tori talks to you. Your favorite game is Peek-a- Boo/Hide and Seek. You and I play this game a lot and you get so excited and your arms wave around and you smile so big when you find me or if I say ‘Boo” around a corner. I love your smile! It’s so big and happy. I can’t help but smile whenever you do. You also like joining Daddy and Peyton when they play ball in the hall. It’s fun to walk back and fourth and try to catch a giant ball.

You do a lot of talking and hand gestures but we still aren’t quite sure what you are saying yet. I think just recently you have started calling me “ma ma” but I’m not entirely convinced. It’s more like ”ma ma ma ma ma ma ma...”

You hate to sleep. You are so busy all of the time so when it’s bed time or nap time you are very much against it. Daddy can get you to sleep better than Mommy can. You seem to be more comfortable with him and he sings lots of great songs for you that help put you to sleep faster. I don’t blame you, the world is a very interesting place and you don’t want to miss out on any of the interesting stuff.

You love music and can dance to it just a little. Anytime music comes on and you’re around you tend to stop what you are doing and just listen. You also seem to want to start taking things apart to see how they work. Hopefully you won’t do that too often!

Just recently you have started pushing cars around, bouncing , jumping and rolling balls, and waving. You love bouncing! Since you have mastered walking I think you have moved on to new things. You are doing so well. To think you started out in this world three and a half weeks early and very tiny. They said you would have to go to NICU but you never did. You were strong willed from the beginning. Just like your sister, you know what you want and somehow you will let us know.

I love you so much little man. I can’t wait to see what kind of little person you turn into.

Love,

Mom

Peyton is so smart it boggles my mind sometimes. Doug and I were having a conversation about when Publix was open till today. Being New Years and all... Peyton heard us talking and taid they are open from 7am to 7pm. Damnit if she wasn't right. How does she know these things? Obviously she can read but she just inhales all knowledge around her. It's amazing. She's so awesome!

Peyton asked me at bedtime tonight:

Do Mermaids have Belly Buttons?

Do Mermaids poop?

I say yes...they have belly buttons as they would be mammals like dolphins not fish hatched from eggs.

Today Xander waved bye, put a ball in a hole, and danced to music.

September Already

Well, let's see. It's been about 3 months since I checked back here. I'm so terrible at keeping up. It occures to me to update at odd moments and then when I'm in front of a computer I forget.

Xander is 8 months old and really working hard on walking although he hasn't figured out how to crawl yet. He's fascinated by everything. The numbers as they count down on the microwave, Spongebob, Plastic that he would love to put in his mouth! He's a dangerous little boy. I think we are really going to have to do some major child proofing for this kid. I think he's tougher than my daughter. He's exhausting all he wants to do is walk. I'll be glad when this stage is over and he finally can walk. Only problem is I think he's going to take off running and never stop! He's discovered his tongue. I mean I think he's known it was there for quite a while but all of a sudden it's always out as far as he can get it. I've got to get a good picture of it. It's hilarious!

Peyton has started Pre-K and loves it. She has a best friend already! I'm so happy for her! When she gets home her day was "Great!" That is not her usual response to anything. So I'm very glad she's happy to be there. She decided after just one dance class for the new year that she wanted to do Gymnastics- now that we are signed up for that she has decided she doesn't want to do that either. Fine, whatever, we will do nothing for a while. I really want her doing something extra but with Pre-K three times a week maybe that's enough... for now. I guess I'm a little dissapointed cause I love to watch the new things she has learned and I was really looking forward to another recital. Apparently she wasn't and I don't want to be that mom!

Saturday when we were all out shopping after Gymnastics Peyton asker her dad "Dad, how long is your tongue? Does it go all the way down to your vagina?" Interesting anotomy question. Of course Doug was so stunned he couldn't answer accurately. Ahhh well- anatomy for another day.

After a year of living together full time with a teenager I think things are going much smoother. It's really a mindset on my part. Teenagers will do what they will. I was one once and I broke every rule there was. I can't fault her for doing normal teenage things- all we can do is guide her and hope she emerges as a responsible adult. So far she's busy with marching band and drama club. I hope it stays that way!

Things aren't calm and smooth but it's not all chaos either.

My husband and I have manages to set aside some time for ourselves. Just a little. We've made it to the ocassional party, concert, etc. I just had my 35th birthdya and we both made the best of it and got new tattoos. That was a lot of fun! Doug is now addicted and wants another but he can't understand why- because it hurts!