Things You Don't Want to Forget . . . .

Once again, months upon months have lapsed since I've put my mind to blogging anything. I'm such a lazy blogger. I think about it now and again, but Facebook updating is much easier, isn't it?

This time of year makes me so nostalgic. I love Fall. Lately I've been watching my kids and trying to savor every sweet little moment with them while I can still call them "my babies." While looking back at old photos I'm amazed at how quickly they change and how much we forget about the little things they did and said. Like when Isaac was a baby and explored and inspected every new thing put in front of him by balancing and twisting his tiny thumbs all over it. I have no idea what that meant to him, but I was sure it meant he was going to be a genius.

Isaac started Kindergarten in August. Yes, he's only four, but he's reading and writing already and is such a smart cookie. He's so observant and absorbs everything like a sponge. I debated on officially starting school so early, but we agreed that holding him back wouldn't be good for him or us. He inherited my love for learning and he craves to be taught. I love homeschooling him because we are free to learn about whatever peaks his interest at the time. So far in addition to reading, writing and arithmetic we've cooked and baked, gardened, gone on nature field trips, learned about Bats and Owls (his favorite animals, since all things nocturnal are the coolest nowadays), the moon and space, and pumpkins, Pilgrims and Indians. We've had art days and computer days. Sometimes in our PJs. There are no rules against that in our house. ;-) He loves to speak Spanish and make it known to everyone wherever we are. No matter where we are, he is always an owl. A real owl. He flaps his wings when I lift him up and down out of the car or grocery cart and greets people with "hoo-hoos." Just don't make the owl angry.

Isabel is so verbal and imaginative. She was such a sweet, happy, tiny baby and she grew so suddenly into a tall, sturdy, mischevious little person. :-) She loves to nurture and help. She doesn't always care about her ABCs and 123s but she is super sharp when it comes to reasoning the world around her. She loves caterpillars and bugs, dirt, coloring and creating, and pretending she is in her own little royal world. She dwells in castles and wears fancy gowns. She refuses to wear pants or shoes, and only wears dresses and "slippers." Her current favorite dress is a faded, knit, long-sleeved navy blue dress with red flowers all over it, buttons and a collar. She looks like a little ragamuffin from Little House on the Prairie but I admire that she imagines herself past her tattered little playdresses into a Cinderella gown.

She carries around tiny notebooks and crayons or a pen. She fills page after page with tiny circles and scribbles. We keep a constant supply of tiny notebooks. They never get old to her.

Since her infancy, she continues to be obsessed with socks. When she was a baby, we called her "sock monster" because she was constantly snatching socks - dirty or clean - and making off with them as fast as she could. She ate them. She flung them. She pulled them on her arms. Thankfully she no longer eats them but she does steep them in her princess teapot. I'm obligated to partake in her stinky-tea parties several times a week. This morning she asked to play with her little bag of seashells. She filled her Cinderella socks full and fat with seashells and pretended they were pumpkins. Then she cuddled them and pretended they were babies. All the while chattering like a grown-up telling me how they looked and how they felt.

Her affection is so sweet. When she was cuddled in my lap with a fever last week, she touched my face and said "I lub you, Mom. You byoo-ful, mom. You go-geous." She does my mommy heart good. :-) Last night she woke crying in the middle of the night. I brought her to my bed and we whispered together for a little while. Then she cuddled to me and stroked my arm and face with her little hand. I don't want to forget things like that.

I'm thankful to have had such easygoing kidlets, they've never had problems with changing routines or encountering new people or places. However, Isaac has kept a little bit of concern since we were away from both of them for seven days during our anniversary vacation. They did wonderfully with their grandparents, but ever since, Isaac always needs reassurance when we go somewhere that I am going with him and that I am going to stay with him and that I won't be gone overnight. When we returned home from that vacation, Isaac told me "Mom, I like to see you and look at you. I like to smell you." Since then he tells me that often. I melt every time. I tell him I like to see him, too. We snuggle and I ask him "What do you think I smell like?" He usually says "coffee", which is so funny to me. He loves coffee and he usually sits with me on the couch when we're just getting up on the mornings, while I'm drinking my coffee. I guess that's what he thinks of. The other night at church he climbed in my lap and hugged me and told me he likes to smell me. I asked him what I smelled like and he said "Coffee. With chocolate and milk and sugar." These tiny things make my mommy heart so happy! Last week Isaac was teling me these things and Mike asked him "Isaac, what do I smell like?" He hugged his daddy and then decided "Hot Chocolate." We asked him "What does your sister smell like?" He thought for a minute and then said "Mud." Typical brother.

I also don't want to forget that at this stage in their little lives, my children know no strangers. Every person we pass in the aisle or in the park, every cashier who scans our groceries. They are subjected to a formal introduction and some chatty conversation. Appearance and age do not matter. And most people are amused by it. The more I think about it, the more I hope they never grow out of it. And in my quest to become more Christlike, I believe I could observe this particular lesson from my children.

Isn't it amazing how much we learn about God from our children?