Saturday, February 25, 2012

Weaving

I'm not sure who I write this blog for anymore (or don't write, as the case has been more often than not.) I think, originally, it was for me but also for family who was so far away. In the Japan Days, as I've personally labeled that era, there was so much vibrant detail that I wanted to convey and there was no way to share my experience without lots of words and pictures. Then we came back stateside and I thought my life was still fairly interesting. I was, most likely, delusional enough to think that maybe I had a unique perspective on the very daunting task of raising a little boy in the nomadic military life. And let's be honest, that little boy provided excellent fuel for my writing sessions, always saying and doing amusing things. And then another kid came along and until she was both walking and talking, this blog served as a great way to document our life, their growth, my experience of raising ohmygosh two whole children who were - brace yourself - really pretty different from one another. But then the second kid started talking (nonstop, in fact) and the first kid was still talking (also nonstop) and both were moving faster each day and somewhere in all of that talking and moving, I lost my voice. I started only writing about the big things and I started leaving out all the filler, the real bits of our lives.

But I really want it all back. And I want it for me and for them. Natalie has started pulling her baby book off the shelf and asking if that's a book I read to her when she was a baby. I realized that it's pitiful how little is filled out. Wyatt loves hearing stories about the things he did when he was Natalie's age. Natalie loves hearing stories about Wyatt as a baby and will retell them as though she was there. Wyatt claims to remember some of the most standout moments of Natalie's babyhood. My point in all of this is that someone has to be the keeper of those memories and I'm pretty sure that someone is me. I'm not writing stuff down like I should be and so, again, this has to be their baby book. We all remember the big moments but the real living goes on in our small day-to-day humdrummery.

I mean, if I don't record it here, I might not remember that yesterday I made my baby girl's day with some beautiful wings from the dollar store and that then, right after we bought them, she begged me to wear them into Wal-Mart so I said yes. I mean, why not? Surely that's not the craziest thing happening at Wal-Mart! And if I don't write it down, I might not remember that she's starting to say "Wal-Mart" instead of "Wah-wop" which, in my book, is a huge disappointment. She's so proud of herself and points out that she enunciates "Wal-Mart" so well, but a little bit of my heart breaks when I can so clearly see the precise moments she's growing up.


And long overdue on my part, but I've finally started taking pictures of Wyatt with his trio block airplane creations. It's ridiculous, really, that it's taken me so long. He greets us EVERY morning with a new one and most days I wake up to the faint sound of blocks clicking together in his room. He's an early riser and he hops out of bed inspired every day. If I'd been more on top of it, I'd have an awesome progression to look at right now, starting with his original, basic, single layer designs and ending with the type of things he's making now with moving parts and interesting names and a gajillion engines/missiles/bombs that have super-specific purposes. His brain is all airplanes, all the time and it doesn't seem to be changing. But one day it might, so I need to capture these moments as they happen. Like this one that he presented after quiet time today. 


So I'm going to write with the intention of remembering funny moments like we had tonight after dinner when Natalie was sent to her room to get pajamas ready for bathtime. Jeff was using his pretend stern voice and told her she'd better hurry up, then started to count as though she were being timed. At "one", she loaded up the toys to put away in her room, by "three" she was getting the babies tucked into her shopping cart and by "five" she'd slung her giant stuffed pony purse over her shoulder. As he counted "six" we could hear her tottering away in her dress up heels so he stopped counting. But as she rounded the corner to her room, Natalie shouted back to him, "SEVEN!" and made us all crack up, like she does ten times every day.

And how could I possibly fail to document Wyatt's enthusiasm for the Jayhawks today, who hosted Missouri for presumably the last time. When Jeff told him the game was starting in three minutes, Wyatt disappeared only to return dressed head to toe in Jayhawk basketball gear, even sporting the wristbands and headband left over from his Halloween costume two years ago. That's proof that our boy is already starting to bleed crimson and blue. The fact that his sister had to follow suit is merely proof that she adores her big brother.




One day when I'm old and my kids are too busy being somewhere else, I'll look back on all of this and remember these tiny threads of our lives that will all come together, whether I like it or not, to create the giant tapestry of their childhoods. I sure hope we're making something pretty.

4 comments:

Darling's said...

Great post Steph....you have once again re-inspired me to get mine up and going again to capture all those moments of the day to day!! Keep on bloggin'!

SStites said...

I'm so glad you're "back"! I usually check a few blogs before I go to bed each night, and I'm always disappointed when you haven't posted anything that day. So welcome back! I've missed you! Hugs to all!

Leslie said...

Love the Jayhawk-lets picture! LOVE!

Susan said...

I love that Natalie is loving wearing a KU football jersey! She's a rock star.