Only Anya

The days of spelling to keep things from the children are numbered. Anya has become quite good at spelling and sounding out. She is constantly writing...lists, stories, pictures with words, letters, etc. It's so fun to see her sprawled out teenager-style on her stomach with her feet up in the air, pen in one hand and "journal" (i.e. any smallish notebook she can find) in front. The other day I found the following:

JAC THE FRENDLE BRD PERUCET

I was impressed...Until tonight. As she was taking Jack's cage back to her bedroom, she looked inside and began laughing. "P-O-O-P! P-O-O-P!" She could barely push the cage she was laughing so hard. Do four-year-olds usually spell their potty words? What a kid!

An Ian Moment

So, we all know Ian is not the best sleeper in the family...

Last week was a particularly bad one (until I figured out that the moonlight was coming in straight across his pillow from the crack between the blinds and his window's edge, but I digress...). Anyway, one morning he'd been up screeching and laughing since I don't remember when -- 4:15? I had continued to tuck and re-tuck him in at fairly regular intervals. At 5:30 I got up to again put him in bed and tuck him in and discovered he had woken Anya. I put both children back to be and climbed back into mine with no hope of returning to sleep. I didn't hear anything more from them.

At 6:30 I got up to start getting them ready for school. I had to wake Anya (thankfully she'd been able to get a bit more sleep), but when I went into Ian's room I found him sitting in the doorway of his tent reading books -- with the LIGHT ON!!! I asked Anya if she'd gone into his room to turn it on and, of course, she hadn't. Apparently he just decided it was time to get up and read. He never does this -- hasn't for years other than flicking them on and off at Mom and Dad's. But apparently that same day the lights were off in his classroom at school (I'm assuming for nap time) and he felt the need to "fix" this problem as well. He makes me laugh...!

A beginning

I'm horrible at journal writing these days (years, actually), but each night as I go to bed I realize one more day has gone, memories unrecorded. I think of all the small, everyday, wonderful things I don't want to forget and I want to capture them before they slip away. So many looks, so many words (especially from Anya!), so many feelings...and most of you, who are so important to us, will never see them. Perhaps with this motivation I will do better at updating this regularly so we can share the mundane and the amazing...the life that is ours...

With hope and love always,
Erin