February 2015

as i type, i am sitting on an airplane over the pacific, en route to china/hongkong for business. i've left my beautiful family behind...knowing they are well and missing them. i am excited to bring home some gifts -- evelyn was decidedly disappointed when i suggested that i bring her home something silk - until i mentioned a chinese silk robe. then she was ecstatic.  she is so funny - no matter what she's doing, it's full throttle.  and she's not afraid to tell anyone what she thinks.

emerson will be testing out his walking skills...taking his first steps on his own.  i had the incredible pleasure of watching him, face bright with glee, as he took at least 5 quick tumbling steps toward me yesterday. it could very well be a whole new world when i get back home.  a tiny person stepping his way around the house, chasing puppies and seeing the world from a new angle.

evelyn is reading.  it is so incredible. and she loves it. i need to spend more time with her, listening to her read the Bob books she found at the book store.  we were hanging out at barnes & noble a couple weeks ago, i was reading a book to her and we were enjoying a treat, when she walks up and starts reading to me from this little paperback.  i was stunned. i looked at her and said, "where did you get that book?" she said, very matter of fact, "It's a Bob Book."  I said, "What's a bob book, and how do you know that?" "it's the same as the Mac books at school. this is a Bob book, see?" and she points to the cover.  I immediately asked her where to find more of those, and we left with a full set.

playing viola at PB&Jam

made special Valentines with Elina

Ev's best friend Skye

emerson is very mechanical.  he plays so differently than evelyn did at his age.  she was very macro.  emptying the linen closet and the pantry, filling random bags with bits of things, tossing items of interest across the floor.  emerson will play with a couple bowls and a wooden spoon for 5 full minutes.  put things in slots. loves to throw things away in the garbage can. absolutely mesmerized by my phone, even though i have it passcode locked.  he took a few selfies the other day at the grocery store.  buttons, lights, switches, he is all about that.  he was playing, over and over and over again, with the little cash register that dings when you hit the open drawer button.  evelyn keeps some change in the drawer. ev would always put coins in her mouth - store them like a gerbil. little rocks too.  always in the mouth.  not emerson. he is just jolly happy putting the coins in a little dish, then transferring them back to the register drawer, open, close, open, ding! transfer the coins back to the dish. happy as a clam.

we went to the fletcher creek playground on a warm day last week and ev's friend Ella was there with her bike.  evelyn has been getting pretty good at her bike, and also a little push scooter that she got for christmas. so ella and evelyn took turns riding this bike around the playground and evelyn is getting really good at braking and turning.  i look at her sometimes and i'm astonished at these long legs she has. she still loves to be held, and those legs just dangle all over the place. she lays in her bed and it seems as though she almost stretches across the full length. growing up so fast - it's a blink.  and emerson is growing up even faster.  i don't know how to slow down time. i try to sit and enjoy them. relax. but we're all so active and it's hard to sit still - everyone of us wants to go and do and play and move.  makes the time whiz by.  that, and all the business of life that keeps us hopping; eating up endless blocks of moments all stacked up end to end that tick tock by without us having the presence to notice.

i'm glad we're a huggy-kissy family.  both my kids love to give kisses.  emerson loves it - with the same hearty mmmmmmwwwwwaaa! that evelyn always used as a baby.  and he's learning to growl like a bear when we give hugs.  one of my absolute very favorite things in the entire span of time and space is the cuddle i get from my babies when they are at this age - baby age - and they wake in the middle of the night or wee hours of the morning and i lift them from their bed and they immediately curl into my shoulder, tucking against my neck, wrapping their little arms around me, warm and strong and solid and safe and healthy and amazing. i just want to bottle that up. my heart swells to bursting.  i miss them.