Catching up

Last night I went and peeked in Oliver and Henni's room before I went to bed.  Rather than find Oliver in his bed, I found him in Henni's; the two of them were snuggled together amongst numerous babies, animals, boats, and other craziness.  While daily battles are still fought and are becoming more fierce, they are becoming less frequent as they begin to be able to play together more.

I am convinced that Henni will some day rule the world (watch out!).  Not only is this girl driven, but she also has Oliver to coax her.  The girl refuses to take no for an answer and refuses to acknowledge that she really might be too little for some things.  She has also discovered that letters and numbers mean something, and she is determined to get to the bottom of it.  Yesterday she managed to count to 11 and to identify an obscene number of letters.  She loves to stop and look at books, signs, posters, license plates...and identify the letters.  Oliver has realized that he likes other things more than letters and that Henni is pretty good at them, so he has decided to pass the whole letter thing on to Henni.  This evening they were looking at a book together and Oliver was asking Henni to tell him all the letters.

Henni has declared skiing is her favorite thing and is doing a pretty good job.  Bulldozer must accompany her on all excursions; he is getting a bit chilled given he has no snow attire.

Speaking of attire - Holli's mom made the kids the most wonderful items.  Henni took it upon herself to model them all.  Henni has been sporting the skirt and hat almost daily and the coral snake scarf was a huge hit.

What else...we've been spending most of our weekends in Maine so the kids can ski.

My ski bum.

Last weekend we also decided to spend some time on the lake now that there is ice.  It was beautiful, but freezing!

We also hit the skating pond in downtown Camden.  Beautiful, and much warmer.

And finally, Henni continues to adore her babies.

Imagination

I love getting lost in a book.  Getting so lost that reality and the story begin to blur and the characters become my new friends, their joys and pain become mine, and I am exhausted because, for hours on end I have said I would read - just one more page.  Unfortunately, my life as of late has not been conducive to a good book.  Instead my nights have been focused on looking for a new job, doing work for various contract projects, cleaning the house, pulling toys out of Charlie's mouth, and delving into reads like "How to talk so your kids will listen and listen so your kids will talk."  At an interview last week I was asked what book is currently on my nightstand.  Knowing that "How to Give a Moose a Muffin," "Good Night Gorilla," and "The Whale and the Snail" would not be appropriate answers (although they would have been the honest one), I panicked and wracked my brain for an adult book.  While I have read many a book that would have been a good answer, the only book I could think of - the names of all other books ever written suddenly left my head - was "Raising your spirited child."  

Life has been a bit challenging as of late as we try to juggle all of the balls while at the same time walking a tightrope.  Friday night we decided it was time to take a break from everything and just spend a night and watch something on tv.  We decided on Downton Abbey.  My eyes have officially sunk to the back of my head, my circles have engulfed my head, everything I need to do is not being done -- and I feel as though I have lost myself in a book.  

While getting lost in Downton Abbey is exhausting, it has reminded me of the need to take a breath, and to take time for imagination - for suspending reality.  Between Downtown Abbey and my new routine of walking Charlie on the beach watching the sunrise, I think we can continue our Cirque de Soleil act for a little longer.

Our house

Once upon a time our house was our house.  Davis and I not only had our shared space, but we had space for our loves - painting and printmaking, woodworking, inventing...and we had time to do said activities.  Then, once upon a time, a little boy was born and things began to change.  A chair got moved and a small box of toys and books appeared downstairs.  The other day I looked around and noted that, somehow, there was not only the little boy, but also a little girl (ok, the belly, the labor, the personality...I knew Henni had arrived) and that the small box had grown and multiplied - significantly.  

Over the past four years one couch and four chairs have been removed from the house in order to accommodate trucks, a trampoline, baby strollers... Somehow our house house means a totally different thing.  It means that if you want to join me in the living room, where I am now, you are going to have to sit in the large tent, lay in the tunnel, or bounce (or I suppose you could sit) on the trampoline.  Your glass, sorry, you are going to have to hold it.  Yes, the coffee table has been moved off to the side to make way for a large train track.  Oh, the other end of the couch.  Well, you could try to sit there, but you will have to talk to a 100 pound dog who has made himself very comfortable.

Our house also means 5:00 dinners and 7:00 bedtimes.  It also means three people and many toys in a shower.  It also means that, despite the fact there are three bedrooms, only one bedroom will be used tonight.  In said bedroom there will be four people, four dolls, one squid, two (stuffed) dogs, a parrot, a bunny, two water bottles, and god knows what else  - all in one bed.  This means snuggles - ones which I can't quite give up.  While sleep no longer means the same thing, I have come to love and embrace our crazy bed.

Our house now suffers from projects which have not been done, but it is teaming with projects that have been done.  We have beautiful art work on the walls - some condoned, others not so much (Oliver, I know it was you who wrote on the walls, because although Henni knows her letters, she can not write them).

After spending far too long looking for a bat (pretend) the other day I was frustrated and wondered when we had ceded the house to the children.  However, in stepping back (after finding said bat and after a night or two of violent snuggling in an overcrowded bed) I realized that we did not cede the house to the children, but rather the definition of "our" changed.  While hosting an adult cocktail party might prove difficult here, the reality is that I am not sure I could stay awake for an adult cocktail party nor do I think I could find the dress for one.

There are moments of insanity when I wish I could snag a Groupon getaway, but the majority of the time I am utterly in love with our home and all the beings which occupy it (even the fish).  And while I don't get to do the projects and activities I used to do, I get to experience things like this...a rare event.  After close to two hours of sledding and hiking through the woods, Oliver and Henni fell asleep, snuggled, in a sled.

Tip Top

Six days ago we haphazardly threw things in the car and headed north - itching to get out of the rain and into the snow.  We left the house with no thought and no plan - but we did leave with shoes for Henni.  Once we got to Maine the snow kept on falling and falling and falling - we had entered a winter wonderland and so we stayed (maybe even overstayed) and had a super fun, unexpected, vacation.

Our time away, again, highlighted the difference between Oliver and Henni.  Oliver does not attempt something until he knows he can do it - flawlessly.  For example, he announced he wanted to be diaper-free and he was potty-trained.  He decided he would ride a two-wheeler - and he did, without falling once.  And swimming, he decided he wanted to swim without a bubble - and he swam off, like a fish, and now swims with a mask and snorkel - even diving to the bottom of the pool.  Henni, on the other hand, just jumps.  The girl does not even think to look before she leaps.

The other day we went to the climbing wall at the YMCA and the woman asked who wanted to go first.  Henni yelled "me," at the same time gOliver pushed her forward.  And Henni took to the wall like a goat.  She declared she was climbing to the top and she did a pretty amazing job.

Once again, totally inappropriate clothing - diaper and skirt for a climb.

Once Henni had finished Oliver climbed.  Oliver too proved to be a goat.

Over the past couple days Oliver perfected skiing.  He spent a day gaining his balance and being roped - and then announced he was done with the rope and was ready to ski - and he skied!  We spent the last couple days skiing, from the very tip top of the Snowbowl.  Every time we reached the bottom he raced to the line so he could go up again.  He is a true skier now.  Able to stop, turn, and just plain ski on his own.

Henni also went to the top and gave me thighs a work out - between riding the T-bar up, and skiing down with her between my legs I essentially spent a couple hours in a squat.  Skiing is hard work for a two year old though.  On her last run yesterday she managed to take off her skis on the lift and then proceed to fall asleep as I carried her (and Davis carried her skis) down the mountain.

In addition to skiing we also dug a tunnel,

 Climbed snow banks,

 And made snow angels.

Back at home tonight, with little snow in sight, it was tea party time.

We are looking forward to the new year - and to many more days of skiing, snow fun, and time together.

Peace, love, happiness

The last couple of weeks have been a blur. Oliver celebrated his last day of school with a Peace Festival.  I was brought to tears watching Oliver's class singing "This little light of mine," and then brought to hysterics watching Oliver sing and dance to a song the whole school did with their Spanish teacher.  

Following the Peace Festival out family entered into a surreal little world - Davis and I both home, no obligations, yet too many things to do...a number of miscommunications including somehow getting to the science museum and realizing neither of us had brought shoes for Henni.  A trip to the gift shop and some tape (they only had adult sized slippers) and Henni was off, enamoured with her new shoes.

I've yet to upload the pictures from Christmas that are on my camera, but here are a few from the day...

Christmas is also Charlie's birthday!

We were planning to stick around our house after Christmas, but it poured, and poured, and poured...we looked out at the lake that was our back yard and then looked at the messages being sent by those further north and packed up the car.  We made it up to Maine last night in time for some late night sledding.

Then we started the day today with skiing.  Oliver had a great time on the snow, but Henni...that child loved skiing.  She skied longer than Oliver - although ever time she saw a snowboarder she got really mad and tried to ditch her skis - she really wants to snowboard.

 

After skiing we spent the rest of the afternoon cross-country skiing and sledding.  The kids loved being able to be out in the snow.