Wish

Avery, before tossing a penny in a fountain this past weekend: "I wish to go to a rainbow." Me too, honey. Me too.

On Children

Such a beautiful and meaningful poem, from The Prophet by Kahlil Gibran:

Your children are not your children.
They are the sons and daughters of Life's longing for itself.

They come through you but not from you,
And though they are with you, yet they belong not to you.

You may give them your love but not your thoughts.
For they have their own thoughts.

You may house their bodies but not their souls,
For their souls dwell in the house of tomorrow, which you cannot visit, not even in your dreams.

You may strive to be like them, but seek not to make them like you.
For life goes not backward nor tarries with yesterday.

You are the bows from which your children as living arrows are sent forth.
The archer sees the mark upon the path of the infinite, and He bends you with His might that His arrows may go swift and far.

Let your bending in the archer's hand be for gladness;
For even as he loves the arrow that flies; so He loves also the bow that is stable.

Chloe's First Steps!

Chloe walked for the first time today, out on the back patio with Auntie Amy and Grandma Debby on hand to visit.

Best. Weekend. Ever.

Last weekend was a big one. It started on Friday the 13th, which also happened to be my birthday. We went out to dinner with family and friends (13 of us altogether), and laughed and ate and drank. It was exactly what I wanted.

The next morning, we got up and went to Allied Gardens' Springfest, an annual event at our neighborhood park. Avery's little preschool was marching in the Springfest parade. She was pumped; she'd been practicing her princess wave for weeks. So we donned our matching t-shirts and headed for the parade route with Stephanie and Oliver.

There's Avery at the bottom right.

Daddy's got the wave down, too.

 

Getting ready to ride the roller coaster with Oliver.

Then came Sunday, Avery's 3rd birthday.

Grandpa and Chloe, ready to party.

When Avery saw Snow White, she looked up at me and said, "See mama, I knew Snow White would come to my birthday party!" 

By the time the faces were painted...

...candles were blown out...

...cake was eaten...

...jumpy was deflated...

 

...hats were taken off...

 ...and Snow White had returned to the dwarfs...

 ...Avery was too exhausted to open presents. So were we.

Happy Mother's Day!

"Sometimes the laughter in mothering is in the recognition of the ironies and absurdities. Sometimes, though, it's just pure, unthinking delight." -- Barbara Schapiro

Clowning Around

Us, during a discussion about how there hasn't been a good celebrity clown for a while: "Avery, do you know who Ronald McDonald is?"
Avery: "Yes."
Us: "Who?"
Avery: "Um, E-I-E-I-O."
Us: "That's right!"

Sweet Tweet

Today, as I laid Chloe on the changing table, she looked up, pointed a chubby finger toward the mobile above her crib and said, "bird."

I stood in stunned silence. She's been babbling for quite some time, stumbling across the occasional "Mama" or "Dada" with a timing that allowed us to convince ourselves she knew what those words meant. But this. This was...purposeful.

She looked at me, still pointing. "Bird. Tweet, tweet," she said. I thought of all the times I'd said those very words to her as I held her up to watch those fabric birds spinning above her crib.

"Michael!" I yelled. "She's talking!!"

"That's great, honey," he said, his voice dripping with skepticism after I explained what had happened. Then, as though to prove herself, Chloe looked at her dad, pointed and said, "Bird. Tweet, tweet."

Suddenly, he and I were the ones who were speechless.

Cutest Little Baby Face...book

Chloe's modeling career has officially begun! She's the (baby) face of Sharp HealthCare on their new Sharp Baby page on Facebook.

Check her out here: http://www.facebook.com/#!/sharpbabies