Three things

Three things happened this weekend that made me stop and take note.

The first one is that we decided to keep Clair home from church on Sunday because she has a troublesome cough and a runny nose. The weather was super crappy -- cold, sideways rain, ridiculous winds. It seemed better to keep her home in her jammies. But I really wanted to go to church, so Lester agreed to stay home with Clair, and the boys and I braved the wind and rain and went.
When I got to the screen where you sign up the kids for Children's Church, I noticed that in parentheses next to our kids' names, it says "expected." Some of the other names say "guest" and others don't have a label. So I took from that that the church expects us to be there on Sundays.
This made me feel really good, for some reason. We're expected to be there. We'd be missed if we weren't. This is how I know this is the right church for us. At other points in my life, that one word, expected, might have made me feel pressure. But the church is so welcoming and warm, instead I felt good -- like a part of the family.

It's a really nice feeling.

Secondly, at tumbling class on Saturday, Clair didn't screech like a dying cat when another child entered into her play space. And at a birthday party for a friend's 1-year-old, she actually TALKED to a 3-year-old girl who was near her. She spoke to her, people. Willingly! The girl had a magenta party hat, and Clair's hat had rainbow stripes. Clair looked at the girl and said, "Das yours? Das your hat?" The little girl, Gabriella, said, yes. And then Clair said, "What color yours?"

Hellooooo, do you see what just happened there? She expressed interest in another human being, and initiated -- INITIATED -- a conversation!

I almost fell over. My child might not be a total misanthrope her whole life.

This face fools people all the time. She is really not that friendly.

Lastly, Dean seems to have grown 100 inches over the last few months. And his bossy (yes, I said "bossy!") caretaker, I-can-do-it personality has only intensified.

Birth order notwithstanding, it is so clear who the Big Brother is in our family. 

Great evening at home with the kids

When I got home last night the kids were in dress-up mode.

In honor of Movember, I decided to heighten the fun and add stick-on mustaches to their get-ups. But the Davises were not as enthralled with this idea as I was. 

I had to bribe Cary and Dean to keep theirs on long enough for me to snap a picture, and Clair isn't old enough to understand bribing, so she just cried and then ripped hers off and threw it on the floor.

(Note: That dinosaur costume is really made for someone Clair's size, but Cary refused to take it off all night. He made us all call him "Dinosaur Cary" and he roared at us 'til bedtime.)

Later on in the night, the kids were all "co-wing" -- Clairspeak for "coloring" -- with pens and stray pieces of paper. This happens quite a bit; there's lots of scribbling and pen-poking and usually nothing really worth noting comes out of their artistry.

But last night, Dean drew an actual person! For the first time ever! 

"It's you, Mommy," he said. "On the beach!"

Awwww. I was really very impressed. One of the fascinating things about parenting is watching how children develop. Sometimes you can see things happening gradually, as with Cary right now and pre-reading. And other times, it's scribble, scribble, scribble, scribble, and then BAM! a stick-figure with a head, eyes, legs and curly hair!

And finally, I felt good about our decision to get our butts to church again when this conversation happened:

Clair, climbing up the stairs, whining because she thinks she's going to fall: "Ah fall! Ah fall!"
Me to the boys: "Cary and Dean, go tell your sister she's OK and that she's not going to fall."
Cary: "Clair, it's OK. Don't be scared. God is always with you."

Isn't that so sweet? I don't think Clair bought Cary's encouragement, because I had to stop what I was doing and come get my poor whining girl, frozen on the stairs. But it doesn't matter. I felt so great about Cary (CARY!) rushing to help his sister, and remembering what they're learning in children's church when he did. 

A rare moment of Cary looking sweetly at Clair. Could we be turning a corner?

And then we all had dinner together, all five of us, and there was cookie-cake for dessert, gifted to us by a friend! 

All in all, it was a really, really good night.

(Until I woke up at 4 in the morning in a full-on heart-racing, blood-coursing in my ears, can't regulate my breathing panic. But that's a post for another day.)

Bringing my blog back up-to-date

The last few weeks have been so jam-packed, I haven't had time to properly blog. My goal is to get something down at least five times a week, but that is like a pipe dream, even on the best weeks.

So lots of stuff gets unrecorded, and lots of thoughts get unsaid. But there's nothing to do but to jump right back into it. So here goes.

I'll start with a hodge-podge of things that happened over the course of the last couple weeks or so.

You already saw the kids in their adorable Halloween costumes, but you didn't get to see MOI.

I'm the Queen Bee, y'all. Bzzzz.

Momma Bee went to the boys' school for their Halloween party. While there, I had to be the "kid" and the boys were the teachers. "Sit down, Mommy!" they said. "Criss-cross applesauce!"

Here they are showing me what day of the week it is. I also learned what the weather was. And, if I was very good, I could possibly have gotten to be the line-leader or the door-holder. But I don't remember earning any of those things. I must not have been very good.

Last week, Lester got invited to go to "Thank the elected officials night" at The National Aquarium, even though he's not an elected official. But his boss is, and so we joined him there for a nighttime reception, dolphin show and free rein of the awesome Baltimore aquarium. (If you haven't been, it's really quite nice.)

There were lots of questions about where dolphins go poop (and lots of "ewwwing") and lots of emphatic declarations that jellyfish DO give us jelly, Mommy. "That's why they're called JELLYfish!" Duh.

My favorite is the boysenberry jellyfish. Peach is pretty tasty too.

We got to take home this snapshot of us holding Photoshopped puffins. Cary, who was in no mood to participate with the photographer's requests, was heartbroken when he realized that his pouty refusals to hold his hands out meant he didn't get to 'hold' a puffin when the picture came out. Oh well. Life lesson, Cary. It'll learn ya.

In other news, I'm happy to say, after an October of jam-packed Sundays, we went to the church we like two weekends in a row and pretty much decided we want to join. But first we're going to attend a newcomer's reception this Sunday and ask a few more questions, just to be sure.

I'm excited about possibly joining a church again. But I will be even more glad when Lester and I can both sit in the sanctuary and hear the message together, as opposed to what usually happens: One of us ends up in the lobby with Clair, who refuses to sit still during the lesson and screams bloody murder when we try to leave her in the (very sweet and cute) little nursery. Ugh.

For now, I'll just be happy that we're getting our butts up and getting ourselves to church again. Baby steps, right?

After church last weekend, we ended up going grocery shopping as a family, which we rarely do because hello -- three kids? Wegman's is near the church, so we went there, which was a total blessing! The kids were starving after church, so I took them through the prepared foods section of the grocery store and bought lunch, which we ate upstairs while Lester took the list and shopped.

When the kids were done eating, we just went over and played in the grocery store's children's area until Lester got the car loaded and came back to get us. Easy peasy.

Seriously, whoever came up with the brilliant idea to have a children's area near a dining area, near a bank of bathrooms, upstairs from a huge supermarket -- that person is a bonafide, A No. 1 genius.

We can't afford to shop at Wegman's all the time -- especially when you factor in having to feed the lot of us while we're there, instead of eating lunch at home. But when we have to do it, I'm grateful that we have it as an option. (Also, I made the easiest delicious butternut squash for dinner, thanks to Wegman's handy-dandy "buy a vegetable, we'll dice it for you" service. I love Wegman's!)

And lastly, I have to say how excited I was when Cary came padding into our room yesterday morning (a half-hour before it was time to wake-up, but I'll forgive him) and said, "Look, Mommy." Then, slowly, pointing to each word with his little finger:  'A. Is. For.'"

He read that!

Then he pointed to the alligator and said "Alligator. A. Is For. ALLIGATOR!"

Best 6:15 wake-up call I ever had.

Tomorrow is the end of the soccer season -- there's a parents vs. kids soccer game and a pizza party! Cary and Dean are beside themselves with excitement.

Happy weekend everybody!

Clair's 18-month-check-up and other tidbits

Clair had her 18-month check-up yesterday.
Checkups with her are such a breeze; I almost feel like we should just phone them in to save time. She's such an easy kid (in this area, anyway) with no issues or concerns, we just kinda sail through the whole appointment bing bang boom and done.

Here are her stats:

She weighs 22 lbs., 14 oz.
She's 31 and 3/4 inches tall.
She has 8 teeth.

As usual, Dr. Bodnar was impressed with her verbal ability and amused by her opinionated personality.

She got her shots, cried a little, and we don't have to come back until she's 2! Yikes!

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Speaking of Clair turning 2, I am freaking out just a little bit. You see, a group of my girlfriends sorta stumbled into making a plan for a girls' weekend in New Orleans. At first, it all seemed hypothetical. You know, the whole, "We should all get together!" thing that everyone says and sorta means but never actually does anything about.

But it only takes one earnest and reliable, whip-everyone-else-into-shape-friend to take that whole train from the station to the open road. That friend is Erika Peterman. And so now, she, Lisa Respers, Erin Texeira, Jill Hudson and I are slated to go to NOLA over Presidents' Day weekend. We planned for three nights of no husbands/no kids, eating great food, drinking wine, lounging around reminiscing about our days working at The Baltimore Sun, and cracking up about any and everything.

I admit, I was hesitant a little. I want to go, boy do I want to go. But I felt guilty. Three nights and almost three days of leaving Lester with the kids? It seemed so decadent! And he's never left us for that long! I felt like a bad wife and Mom.

But my girls convinced me (sent me virtual slaps in the face is more like it) that I had nothing to feel guilty about and that all would be fine. I started to get excited.

And THEN,  I realized that President's Day weekend is Clair's BIRTHDAY weekend. In fact, if I stayed until Monday (the holiday), I'd actually MISS her 2nd birthday.

Oh hells no.

I'm all for Tanika time, but I'm sorry. I just can't do it.

I think I am still going...no...I AM still going. But I am only going to stay two nights instead of three, and come back on an early flight on Sunday (Clair's birthday).

I know she won't remember her 2nd birthday, but I don't want to miss it. I won't miss it. (I might be a little hungover on the plane, but having buzzed Mommy is better than having no Mommy on your birthday, right? I'm pretty sure I read that in a parenting handbook somewhere.)

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In other news, after fits and starts and long lapses, Lester and I FINALLY found a church we like!

We went to visit it Sunday and I really loved it. I laughed, I cried. The kids had a good time and BONUS! There were free bagels and coffee afterward! My kind of church!

We have to go back  this Sunday and test the waters again, but I have to say, I'm really excited about the prospect of having a church home again. I've really missed it. And I KNOW we need it. Lordhavemercy -- do we need it!

The church is 20 minutes away in Timonium, but that's better than the 40 minutes it took to get to the church I liked in Columbia. Also, when we daydream about moving and search the web for houses we like, a lot of them are in the Timonium area. So if we decide to join this church (or at least, regularly attend) that's more reason for us to consider moving to a neighborhood in Timonium (some day).


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And in still other news, Cary and Dean's first soccer game was hilarious! Here's a photo recap:

Dean was a soccer machine. Cary was less than enthused. And Clair declared herself a part of the game (or a fashionista) by wearing a boundary-marking cone as a hat.

Lester was really great wrangling the kids and keeping a modicum of order! He's sorta a natural at this. Who knew?!

And I'm proud of all my loves -- my athlete, my grass-sitter, my cone-wearer and Coach! You guys are all perfection in my eyes.

Music, church and wedding weekend!

We had a full (as usual) and good weekend!

We took the boys to a free music class in our area, run by the woman who sings and plays guitar at the sing-along they love so much but haven't been able to go to since I came off of maternity leave.

The boys were sorta lukewarm about the class at first, but warmed up toward the end. Cary even cried when it was over, and said, "I want to go to music class again!"

So we signed them up for a 9-week course. Every Sunday we'll go, and Clair can come too (for free!) if we feel up to bringing her. It starts this weekend and I'm excited. The boys love music so I hope they'll get a lot out of the class.

So cross that off of my list of things I want the boys to do before they turn 3!

Also, Lester and I finally, finally got our butts in gear and made it to visit a church we'd been wanting to check out. The boys were having none of sitting still, so I had to take them to the nursery, where they were having none of being left alone. That meant I heard none of the sermon!

Here they are in the nursery, playing with one of those old-school musical television sets. You know the one that plays "Row Row Row Your Boat" and "Hey Diddle Diddle?" This toy took me back!

But Lester stayed in the sanctuary with Clair and reported back to me. He liked the sermon and seemed to like the Pastor too. We'll go back again next week -- right after music class -- and this time I'll listen to the sermon and Lester will go to the nursery. This way, we'll both get to assess whether we like the church or not.

The civil rights historian Taylor Branch attends this church and he was there on Sunday. I've interviewed him before, but only by phone, so I wanted to go up and introduce myself, but it was too hectic.  Maybe next week.

Saturday night, Lester and I went to the wedding of my brothers' friend Jason. Jason grew up with my brothers since he was in the 2nd grade. I can't remember a weekend that he wasn't sleeping over at our house.  I love him just like he's my own brother and I'm so, so, so, so happy he's found an awesome woman to spend his life with. She is really good for him, and he seems so in love! It's really cute.

The (new) happy couple. The old happy couple. My parents (the even OLDER happy couple). And Lester, posing with the cigars the groom handed out to all the men at the reception. Ain't he suave, y'all? I married well! :-)

We had a GREAT time at the wedding and reception, which were both beautiful and elegant and a lot of fun. There was an open bar and we didn't get home until midnight, and now -- knowing those two things -- aren't you even more impressed that we got up, got ourselves and three kids ready, and went to church on Sunday?

God? See how we're trying? :-)

Lastly, I should mention that my meeting with Miss Toni went tolerably well. Not badly, but not swimmingly either. I think I am just going to resign myself to the fact that she is a really kind, warm and genuine person, who loves kids but is not ever going to be the organized, perky, informative pre-school teacher I'd envisioned in my head.  But as long as my boys seem happy (which is, finally seeming to be the case) it'll all be fine.

And next year, they'll have one of the 3s-class teachers, who are all the way I envisioned! I just have to be patient. Guess I'll work on that virtue in church!