Last weekend Matthew and I had a rare night out, just the two of us. We went to the annual Snowball, a Yosemite Winter Club event at the Ahwahnee Hotel. It was a fabulous event, we stayed out late and enjoyed the windy, raining evening with the impending storm. I returned home to a house of sleeping kiddos...until Dana Rose woke me up just a few hours later- ready for her own party.
Dana hadn't attended the Snowball, so she was ready to go at 5am. I was not super pleased to be awakened at that early hour on a Saturday morning, and was grumbling to myself as I carried her down and laid her on the changing table. Dana grabbed the closest object to her- the pack of baby wipes- and threw them onto the floor. The she looked at me and said, "Uh Oh" in this clear singsongy tone. She said it again, "Uh Oh" and then started singing to me, "Ba ba ba ba" up and down the scales she goes. Dana is singing away, the first time she has ever sung to me, and I am thinking, "these gifts of motherhood, they sure come at odd times." No video camera available, no idea where my phone is, no one else to witness me and my third little baby singing at 5am on a rainy Saturday morning in February. But she did, and it was magical, something I will hold with me through the years. Five minutes later Dana had snot running down her nose, and was methodically taking every crayon out of the art draw and scattering them across the room. She celebrates her first trip around the sun tomorrow.
Whitney has gone through this startling shift over the past month. I'm not totally sure how to describe it; essentially her verbal skills have caught up with her memory. Most of her sentences begin, "Mom did you know...," or "Mama remember the time.." and she goes on to tell me about something she remembers from the past few years of her life that I had no idea she could recall. "Mom, remember when I was two and we went to the beach with the big waves, and I had on my swim vest and Lyell and Georgia had the boogie boards and we had Pirate's booty for a snack?" This was an event that happened over a year ago, when she was two, and the memory was triggered by us snacking on some Pirate's Booty. One other story she told was, "Mom did you know that one day you cried?" and she went on to describe in detail one really stressful day last summer that I did have a good cry after work. We talked a little more about that one, it's ok for mommy's and daddy's to cry and the importance of healthy emotional expression. But I was amazed at all her mind has taken in and stored up, which is now pouring out in her storytelling. Whitney has a constant world of animals and doll house people, and events happening in our playroom, and can often narrate this world for hours by herself while Lyell is as school and Dana is napping. I am so happy she has this solo creative play time, as it seems to suit her personality, and can be hard to fit in as the middle child.
Lyell continues to revel in the world of games. From his latest challenge Suduko, to soccer, to Star Wars battlefields with tiny Luke Skywalker figures, if there is a strategy and a way to win, he is up for it. His fiercely competitive spirit mostly makes us smile, like the time after a big windstorm we all went outside to clean up the many branches that had come down. I challenged him to pick up as many as he could, and we made a goal of 100. He got organized, made piles of ten, and when he hit 100, decided to help Whitney get her 100 by doing the same. We are still working on developing determination when you don't initially reach your goal, or you lose the game to your little sister. Then again, I am still working on those skills, I suppose it's a life long practice.
Our family had the great pleasure of spending time in Tahoe at Northstar, and soaking in some true winter for a week during the Christmas break. Matthew and I met skiing, and it has been a shared joy that has taken a bit of backseat to child birthing and rearing over the past 6 years. So it was glorious to have a week to reconnect to our winter sports roots. Lyell and Whitney both got out on skis, sleds and of course spent some quality time in the hot tub:) Now we are back in the full swing of school (Lyell and Mr. Marcis), preschool (Whitney), learning-to-walk (Dana) and preseason camp work (me). We are striving to maintain that tenuous balance of living a fully engaged life without swirling into the way-too-busy life.
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| Dana's first Christmas morning. |
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We volunteered for the Bracebridge dinner once again this year.
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Girls at the Ahwahnee christmas tree.
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| Lyell's Kindergarten/First Grade Class before their Holiday show. Lyell was Rudolf, can you spot him? |
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| Skiing with the family at Northstar |
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| Our first family chair lift ride- Yahooooo! |
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| This is how we rung in the New Year. Photo taken approx 8:45pm. Happy 2015 y'all. |
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| At first you might be a little confused by this picture. Kids in helmets, bathrobes and mouse ears? Look closely and you will see the ice skates on everyone's feet. Lyell and Whitney took ice skating lessons this winter, which culminated in a ridiculously cute "performance." |
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| The students of El Portal Elementary on their first ski day of 2015. |
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| Classic Dana Rose: somewhat messy, holding on to furniture, and melting hearts with her smile. |
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| Classic Whitney- pigtails, pink bear and silly shoes. |
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| Dana's first birthday celebration! |
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| What am I supposed to do with this lump in front of me? |
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| Aha! Stuff it in my mouth! The birthday cake demolition. |
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| Phew! Life can be so exhausting sometimes that we fall asleep before eating our spaghetti. At least we didn't fall asleep IN our spaghetti. |
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| We are thankful everyday for the natural wonders that surround us, nourish us, and root us in the big picture of our place in this universe. Much, much love from our family to yours! |
