If you're happy and you know it,

kiss your mom.

In the middle of our yoga class, I saw S raise her little hand.  When Ms. Lisa called on her, S said, "Can I go see my mommy for a minute?"  I got ready to take her out to the bathroom, but instead S grabbed my cheeks in those little hands and planted a lip kiss on me.  She let go of my cheeks and as she ran back to her mat, she shouted over her shoulder to me, "I needed that so I could be happy."

S gets by with a little help from her Friends

Playgroup visited Longwood Garden 2 weeks ago. Most schools were on Easter break and we wanted wide open spaces to run in, as opposed to crowded children's museums where we'd be up to our undies in spring breakers.

The day was mostly uneventful, though we explored a few new areas, snacking along the way. In the children's garden, a staff member had set up a crafting station where the Salad each made a crown. They weren't anything special, a few markers and some stickers. What I'm trying to say is that they weren't going to be lovingly placed in our "art to be saved" box.

So it wasn't that big of a deal when, while feeding the giant catfish a bag of leftover crusts, a gust of wind picked up S's crown and landed it in the pond.  She lamented for a minute and then we moved on to the treehouse exhibit, narrowly escaping the Longwood Security who ambled over to see what the fuss was all about. 

As soon as we got to the treehouse, S mentioned that she had to use the ladies room, so while Ms. Amy kept track of the other kids, S and I ran off.  On the way back to our friends, she looked up at me to say, "Mommy, I don't need that crown.  All I need is my brother and sister and friends to have fun."

So young, and yet so wise.

Frogs and Toads Together

We spent a perfect morning at Glen Providence Park with playgroup.  We chose there because it was close to 90 degrees today and we knew we could wade in the many streams and ponds.  Nature did not disappoint.  We caught about 5 frogs (well, really 4 toads and 1 frog - we jumped on my handy dandy smart phone to research the difference and observe the characteristics right then and there!), 20 tadpoles, 1 fish and a close call with a water snake.  Everyone who wanted held the obliging toads, though one surprised A as it tried to wiggle free and she . . . well . . . kind of . . . threw it.  And then it . . . kind of . . . somersaulted . . . down a hill . . . toward a stream.  We watched it swim away, so the other thing we learned about toads is that they are pretty resilient.      

After 3 hours exploring, we packed up and headed home for some quiet time.  When A laid her head down on my pillow, she sighed a contented sigh and said "Mommy, you make the best days."

No, baby girl, you make my days the best.

Our Official Initials

We've got approximately 1752 renderings of our family. A goes into the preschool room every single morning to "create". There are a lot of hearts. Some rainbows. Many flowers.  But mostly it's our family. It's fun to see the progression. What started out as unadorned stick figures are now 10 fingered , 10 toed, 2 eared, pony-tailed, spiky-haired, hat-wearing humans. The newest versions have the first letters of our first names, A, M, S, and then an M for Mommy and a D for Daddy, of course. The first time I saw the letters, I asked her about them.

"They are our officials, Mommy."

* Can we all take a minute here to notice that I am taller than R in this picture?  I've always felt tall, regardless of my 5'2" stature.  According to this version, A sees me at just about 6'2", I'd say.  Something about that makes me feel proud.

You say el tomate, I say tomato

Every once in a while, I go to a Zumba class with my sister. I tried to explain Zumba to the Salad. "It's like a fast dance class to music that Dora the Explorer would listen to."  I figured they'd get the Latin vibe with this explanation.  I also showed them a clip on YouTube. They thought it was hysterical and asked if I danced in my underwear like the women on the screen.  Note to self - prescreen YouTube clips before showing them to the Salad.  Last week, S heard me ask R to be home in time so I could go with Jen. She rushed down the stairs to tattle on me. "Guys! Mommy is going to GYMBA with Aunt Jen tonight!"

Cake Date

At Ian's confirmation afterparty, a 9 year old girl started paying attention to M in that aren't you the cutest little 5 year old boy I've ever seen in my life way.  They mostly played basketball and looked at bugs on the driveway.  But when cake time came, M grabbed her hand and asked "Do you want to sit next to me for cake?"

Any girl would be lucky to have such a sweet boy for a cake-eating partner.

Especially with lips like that.