August 2014

This month I want to celebrate Bruce.  

That boy.  He turned three years old last week.  Three years old.  In some ways I can't wrap my mind around the fact that he's been around - a part of us - for three whole years.  In other ways, I have felt every single one of those thousand and more days.  The past three years have been such a challenge, but they have been so, so good.

birthday breakfast

so this happened... God bless Craig's List...

playing at the mall with his new tractor after a birthday dinner at Chic-fil-a

There are so many things I love about Bruce.  There's no one quite like him, and I'm glad he's mine.

I love the little smirk that crawls across his face the moment something clicks in his brain.  When he finally spots the yellow warbler picking seeds out of the sunflowers that I've been desperately trying to point out to him.  Or when he realizes that he can reach the button that rolls down his window in the van with his toes.

"Look!  I am making the sunflower bald!"

I love his laugh.  Oh, I cannot express how I relish in his laughter.

I love his creativity, his imagination.  His "fingers" have become imaginary friends of sorts, and together they have had so many adventures this year.  He would much rather pretend his fingers are the characters while playing than any figurine in the toy box.  Those are clunky and unaccommodating, and can't keep up like his fingers can.

I love his sense of cautious curiosity.  It's ironic that he chose a Curious George monkey - "Momo" - as his lovey to sleep with before he even knew who Curious George was.  They both share an intensely inquisitive nature, but thankfully Bruce isn't nearly as mischievous.    

Bruce has conquered the slide!

feeding the neighborhood geese

I love how he enjoys cuddling up with me or Charlie (or both of us) on the couch with a good stack of books.  I think he would let us read to him for hours if we'd allow it.  Eventually you have to put the boy to bed though, right?    

I love his kind and thankful heart.  Yes, he throws toys at his sister and makes crazy whiney demands.  But at the end of the day, the balance tips substantially in favor of sweet, and sensitive, and grateful.

I love his interest in music.  Some of my favorite moments around the house are when we each have an instrument and we're playing a song together.

I love how he makes me think.  These days when I get caught up in the humdrum of making dinner and folding clothes - his constant and complex questions keep me on my toes.

I love how he notices things that I don't.  When we're reading books, when we're in the car - he's always catching things that I miss.  And I love that he points them out to me.  His is a fresh and different perspective, and one that I value greatly.

and I love the way God uses Bruce to reveal more of His heart and His mysteries to me.

I could go on and on about my best boy, but I guess I should end with a few other highlights of the month.

My mom and Rick came for a visit which is always a welcomed addition to our normal!  Can you believe I didn't take a single photograph while they were here?  We had a great visit though, you'll just have to take my word for it.

We went to the zoo!

the gorillas never disappoint

trying to climb like a monkey

a peacock feather

a tiger was actually out this time!

We had a pirate birthday party for Bruce!

treasure hunting

spray painting a thousand gold rocks is infinitely harder in Oklahoma
where the wind comes sweeping down the plain and changes directions constantly...

checking out the loot

Bruce wanted a blue sea monster cake... I did my best...

Abby is cruising around furniture, and climbing up slides and on top of coffee tables...  And throwing lots of fits when you take her down from said slides and tables...

no help needed, no fear

she can get all the way to the top of this one, too...

don't worry, we're always there to catch her

oh?  You plan to climb that, too?

man, she's a climber...

She also grew her first two teeth this month!

we went from this...

to this...

and back to this again every few moments for most of the month...

My favorite new thing about Abby is that she has started snuffling.  I guess you could call it that, maybe?  She scrunches up her face, purses her lips, tilts her nose up, and kind of sniff-pants.  What is that about?  Adorable.

"Lazy Baby" is also pretty darn adorable.  Abs will crawl a ways, then flop down on her back and kind of loll around for a bit.  She does this all day long, including in the bathtub.

Another amusing thing she'll do is prop herself up against a table or other ledge with just her belly and let go with the universal "Look mom, no hands!" gleeful glance in my direction.  She'll also stand for a few moments out in the open, but she gets so excited by what she knows she's accomplishing that she loses her balance and falls down.  She is silly proud of herself, which makes me smile.

She still has the nuk in her mouth for most of the day, and although she's learned to spit it out to sneak in treasures, at least we have a bit of a warning when we see the nuk drop.  Most of the time though, she does well with her plug.  She loves to keep a treasure in each hand while crawling around - her favorites include an ear plug, a pony bead, a coffee bean, or a guitar pick - and as long as the pacifier is in, the trinkets (for the most part) stay out.

snuffle face

eating basil straight off the plant...

I find myself caught in a struggle these days between trying to "be present" with my kids and trying to make sure I'm preserving each moment for the future.  It's so frustrating how my memory has started to fail me lately, and it's discouraging to think about what I'll be like ten or twenty years from now.

I want to write down everything that comes out of Bruce's mouth, but could never keep up.  I want to take a million pictures, because you know, with digital cameras you can.  But I can't.

And I decided this month to stop pushing so hard to add to my storybook blog because every time I got my camera out, Bruce stopped having fun.  So we'll keep playing, and Abby will keep smiling with her whole face, and Bruce will keep entertaining me with his crazy conversation tidbits.

But I'll just have to hold them in my heart as a general impression of good.  And I'll be thankful for the photos I do have, and whichever memories I can keep track of.  And that's good enough.