You Are The Sunshine Of My Life

I think it is safe to say that summer has finally arrived in Seattle. Thank goodness. And with it has, apparently, come some old fashioned summer laziness since when I looked at my camera tonight I had some huge number of pictures that I haven't downloaded. I think the long days combined with a more settled feeling than I've had since we left the east coast (and, to be honest, being sleepy at the end of the day after chasing the wild children in my life) have made me delinquent in posting pictures and writing. In a roundabout way, it's a good thing -- it's good to feel fairly in control of things and to enjoy where we are living. The things that I don't feel in control of, well, those are certainly still there, usually in the form of my blond tornado and her bouncer brother. But mostly the blond tornado and my love/hate relationship with the age of three. But that's a different story for a different day... or I just told it. I love, love, love it... and then aye yai yai, the emotional roller coaster is off and running. Anyway, while I think we'll feel in a period of transition for some time to come, life feels like it's bumping along pretty nicely right now with more predictable ups and downs. It's not perfect but it's good and it's ours and it's working. And, did I mention summer finally got here? Everything is better with some sun (and fudgesicles).

Camp Out

If you know how we roll around here, you know that we don't often do a lot of advance planning for our weekends. This weekend being no exception, somewhere around 10am on Saturday, we decided to go camping. After throwing around approximately 6000 ideas, we finally settled on going south towards to the coast... or maybe to the Mt. Rainier area... or maybe south but inland... or we'd just decide on the road. Two hours, one tent, four sleeping bags, five camp chairs, and a lot of other crap later, we found ourselves on the road. Four hours after THAT we found ourselves getting an off-road vehicle permit, a big red flag, and one portable toilet. And THEN one hour later, we were surrounded by lots and lots of sand (and the sound of ATVs) in our "dispersed camp site" in the Siuslaw National Forest sand dunes. Aside from the drone of ATVs, it was really beautiful and I'm now a huge fan of sleeping on the sand. The little people were also big, big advocates of camping this way -- today, Molly informed me that she likes that camp site better than Seattle (I dunno about that...) and Jack did innumerable face plants in the sand (and yes, Holly, he did ingest his fair share of sand although he seemed happier landing in it than eating it this time around). Sometimes these adventures don't work out so well but, more often than not or else we'd call it quits, the unplanned nature of them adds to the spirit and fun and they end up like this -- sandy, sunny, and undoubtedly funny. 

Our view.

My sous chef.

Tent sentry.

Plenty of room to run... and run... and run.

Sunset.

Jamming at sunset.

Where'd my cars go? 

(Ed note: I dug for Hot Wheels a few too many times this trip. Not so fun when you're pretty much looking for a needle in a haystack). 

It's okay, we found them. 

Campfire. 

The proud fire builder. 

Getting ready for s'mores.

On Sunday, we headed up the coast where there was sand AND water. 

Captain beach.

Yes, that water is FREEZING.

Although, some people disagreed with that notion. 

The Boss Lady and Little Big Man.

The end. 

I'm A Big Kid Now

Remember when Jack missed Molly during her first day of camp? Ah yeah, no more. While he does spend the first couple minutes asking where she is and is excited to pick her up (which may have something to do with his disappearing into the playhouse each time we go to get her), he has started taking full advantage of his time away from the big boss.

This week, he...

took over the stamp set (I think he just made stacks of them since he does not appeared inclined towards the crafts just yet)...

asked me to please leave him alone since he never gets a moment of peace and quiet around here...

but in the end, did agree to give his old mom a little of his charm...

and then tried a new way of picking up toys...

which failed...

but he kept trying to get those toys inside the vacuum...

and, once again, asked me to leave him the heck alone so he could work in peace.

Ed Note: Yes, I do realize he is wearing goggles... it just doesn't faze me much anymore since someone is usually wearing my circa 1995 ski shades around here.

And the big boss lady? She's doing really well at school and I can tell she's having fun because she refuses to tell me what the heck she does all day. One other thing I do know, is that she "suddenly" knows how to draw people! I'm not sure why I'm so fixated on the people-drawing and I don't know why she waited so long to break out her skill (yes I do... it's because I was so fixated on it despite trying to keep it to myself) but it has made for good times all around. Yup, you betcha, I'm that excited. 

 

                            

Molly starting "real" school (well, real enough... it's camp but it's at the school she'll start in September with the same teachers) has, as expected, provoked a range of feelings. I've had my moments of swooning, feeling so proud of her for how well she has done, and I've had my moments of disbelief that she's old enough to do all of this and that I'm relegated to the chauffeur role, and I've had a moment or two of sadness that she's turning into a big kid so fast. It's been nearly all good, though, and I'm excited for her to really start in the fall. And, as she gets smarter every day, I think I might get dumber. I swear, any mental agility I might have ever possessed feel like it's left the building lately... maybe I'll let her take over the blog writing...

Island Life

We're still having some technical difficulties getting some pictures from our BI trip but since we've been living with more rain than sun since we've been back, I'm ready to revisit the gorgeous weather that we had out there and am just going with what I've got (with a little boost from Nana). What's especially nice is that I can't get at any of the pictures of anyone else who made the trip fantastic -- so, so sorry that it's just our ugly mugs populating this post. Nonetheless, you can trust me that Nana and Grandpa welcomed the traveling circus with great food and company and gave us all lots of time to relax, as always. It was so lovely to reunite with John and give up my single parenting (with lots of assistance) gig and I think he actually unplugged for several days, which was amazing! Shocking! It was really great. 

We got in some great walks, chased the wizard around the yard, visited the playground, enjoyed lots and lots of beach time (John loved every sandy minute of it), and just wore ourselves out. Being on vacation is simply fabulous, especially when lots of people want to help you take care of sun-kissed little people. We got some extra special help at the end of the week when Auntie Holly, Auntie Karin, and Becca came out. Molly basically attached herself to Becca for 48 hours and I'm pretty sure she would still be hanging off her arm if we hadn't forced her onto the ferry. 

And while it's nice to be home, it was definitely hard to leave those blue skies and fabulous people behind... 

Please ignore the animal attached to my head... also known as my wild hair. Yikes.

The wizard kept appearing in different spots around the yard and someone was happy to hunt for him every morning. 

Traveling circus what?

My mellow men. 

Hide and seek is less effective when you hide in the same spot every time. 

Whee!

Oh, those curls... 

Jack's final test to become an America citizen: ingestion of his first RI institution -- Dell's Lemonade.

There may be little foot imprints at that door -- I'm not sure if it's birds, flowers, or what but he loves gazing out front. 

Working hard for the money. 

Actually working hard.

Waving goodbye to his peeps. 

On My Own

I thought that when Molly went to camp, Jack would be ecstatic to have one-on-one time and not to have to share dear old Mom with a very bossy sister. I don't know when my ego started running away unchecked because not only did he spend the first two hours saying "Where Maw-wy?" over and over but the lawn mower was more interesting than whatever shenanigans I was trying to interest him in on the playground. Slide be damned!

How Sweet It Is

Three and a half. Like most milestones reached, it feels like this happened in the blink of an eye. That Molly is suddenly in the latter half of her fourth year on the planet seems unbelievable yet also very, very believable when I think of how much we have done with her and how much she has done for us. My little spitfire is as fiery as ever. She still has swagger, frenetic energy, an incredibly strong will, and remains as stubborn as all get up. But three has been a big year for her in other ways and it's had its share of growing pains. She's more fearful of some things than she used to be, dogs for instance, and you can see the tug of war in her mind where she wants to walk right up to something but can't quite get herself there. She can have a very hard time trying new things if I don't stay with her but this is abating quickly and her confidence, now tinged with a little more awareness of the world, is returning. She can be very particular about who does what for her -- you might have experienced this if you've tried to get her out of her car seat -- and will give you a hairy eyeball (and a shriek or two) if you try and convince her to do it your way. She remembers everything. Everything. Every-thing. E.V.E.R.Y.T.H.I.N.G. You can not, should not, will not pull a fast one on her. Don't think for one second that if she fell asleep on the way home from somewhere and you had promised to get ice cream that she won't wake up, come into your room at 6 am and inform you that you were supposed to get ice cream on the way home so let's go now. Or that yesterday you said that it was easier to brush her hair with your fingers (when you really just couldn't find the hairbrush and you had to be out the door in thirty seconds) so what in heaven's name do you think you're doing trying to use a brush on it today. Her mind, like her mama's, is a steel trap, one that, (like her mama's) may occasionally tweak things that you say so that they better suit what she'd like to hear. She's sassy and savvy, this one. She loves to be a big girl and will tell you that she is one, especially in relation to her brother --"I don't use binkies anymore, I'm a big girl." Or "I don't wear diapers anymore, I'm a big girl. Jack is a baby so he still wears diapers at night (ed note: he actually still wears them all the time but the daytime diapers don't really relate to her anymore since she's been out them long enough that they don't register on her radar. It is, after all, all about her). She is oh so independent in the things she feels mastery over -- puzzles, "reading" (i.e. reciting from memory) books, coloring, painting, t-ball, building blocks, geography (weird, I know, but she is strangely good at it. I've learned more about US geography in the past two months than in all 33 years prior)  -- but can be hesitant to try something out in front of anybody until she is secure in her success. She's is, at the same time, still very much little. She often wakes up wanting to be held and snuggle. She nudges (or pushes) Jack out of the way for lap time and she loves being smooched. I love that she has big ideas, big plans, big personality but that there is a bit of her that still isn't ready to be in the big world full time and a piece of her still likes being our baby girl.

The love that she can bestow is epic. She will latch onto someone and it's like no one else needs to exist. That person is her best friend. Sometimes it is someone she has met once, sometimes it's someone she hasn't seen for a year, sometimes it's me or John... but if you're in the spotlight, the two of you are the center of the universe and you are the funniest, smartest, best at XYZ person around (after her, of course). You just had better not want to eat dinner without her on your lap or hanging on your arm or, at the very least, with your chairs touching. You also should not attempt to go to the bathroom or shower or wake up alone as this may be hazardous to your health according to the single white female hanging outside the door. It's a generous love, though, and the attention is sincere, which is cute. There is no posturing on her part; that it's genuine affection is helpful to remember when you have someone staring down the bathroom door.

With all that said, with all the highs of the age, three has been challenging for me to parent through at times. Two gets a lot of press for being a difficult age but I found it easier than three with her. I hear a lot of my admonishments shot right back at me -- I often am told that I'm not listening well, that I'm not being kind, that she's not interested in arguing about something. I have said to people that Jack tires me out physically each day but my little firecracker sure does make me mentally exhausted every day. I find myself flummoxed or tongue-tied or not quite sure of my approach more than I used to. As she grows and stretches and bumps up against limits and boundaries, I find it hard not to mention the rules ad nauseum or get exasperated by the same behavior that I swear we just talked about and instead keep my eye on the developmental realities of the age. I am not always successful no matter how many times I chant "firm but fair, firm but fair" as my mantra. I yell more than I'd like and now Molly preemptively asks me if I'm going bananas (it's really that obvious, I guess). I have to slow down more than I'm used to and think things through instead of acting reflexively or reactively. She is, I am, we are, as always, a work in progress.

Still, no matter how many times I have to retrieve her and my iPhone from some dark corner where she professes to be doing "nuthin'" and no matter how many times I need to remind her not to affectionately call her brother tushy penis head (especially in public, please) and no matter how many times I have my own cranky pants on, there is not a thing about her that I'd change. I will love her for always, forever, and to the moon and back. She wears many hats but she's so full of spunk and love and energy that there is no choice whether or not to embrace it all, it's a given, just as it has been for the past three and a half years.