Race Day

Today my family ran the Covey Run!

I was weepy ALL MORNING. The Covey Run benifits uncompensated care at the Children's Hospital, and we ran because a friend and colleague of Bubba's has kids with complicated health histories. There were teams of all sorts, of all ages, of all sizes. And I was weepy thinking of the kids whose lives are saved or made better by this and of my own kids who are so healthy. Why yes, I CAN push 80 pounds of stroller for miles for you. (I even saw an "In memory of" team t-shirt and shut it down, people, I almost did the ugly cry at mile 1.5.)

The Bubba ran the 10k and I ran the 5k with the kids in the stroller.

Lucy's debut race

And Lucy ran her first event: a quarter mile kids' dash. She got a medal and was SO. PROUD. (I heard "I ran SO FAST!" and "Look at my medal! I won the race!" approximately a million times. But it was cute even the millionth time.)

She is awesome.

It was a spectacular event. I'm so glad we did it.

(Look how much John enjoyed it!)

(This is my new favorite family picture.)

Four

Didn't I just write a three month post? Yeah, well Johnny is four months old now. Time has sped up exponentially since John was born. I mean, the math might not back me up on this, but two kids is WAY more kids than one kid.

I like this picture because John and Toad are identical: slouchy body, vacant expression...

John found his feet yesterday. He's been watching his hands sail by his face for a couple weeks now with a curious Can I Eat These? expression. (He eats EVERYTHING.) But yesterday he got a hold of his feet. And, oh the joy of wrestling with something that wrestles back!

(Going for a Full Nelson on Toad)

This month I've gotten John on a predictable sleep schedule. I'll pause here for the appropriate accolades. Because all of a sudden? NO MORE FUSSY BABY. He's fun when he's awake! And giggly! And he plays and interacts! He rolls from front to back and back to front to reach for toys! I thought he might fuss me out, but as it turns out, it didn't last forever.

By far his favorite thing is sitting/laying somewhere and watching his sister play. Which is great for ME because it's Lucy's favorite thing too! From the other room I'll hear "Watch at THIS, Johnny!" and a train crash or a tower fall and then two sets of giggles. And I'm pretty sure that's what it sounds like when the angels sing.

Four months is FUN. All the happy with none of the fussy? I'll totally take it.

His new throne to better rule the family.

Also! I didn't tell you about his baptism! John Ignatius was baptized on July 31, the feast day of St. Ignatius. At our church we dunk the babies. I love this. I love the little naked babies splashing in the holy water.

There's just something about it; I always have to hold back tears.

And it was just such hard work being baptized, John passed right out afterward. The untroubled sleep of the newly forgiven, I suppose.

Because I'm Three

Or, more precisely, "Because I'm FREE!" is what Lucy says any time there are three of ANYTHING: signs, grapes on her plate, train cars - "There are free of dem buh-cos I'M free too!"

Saturday was a super fun party at a playground, and everyone was so busy playing that no one wanted to stop to open presents! I think that's a sign of a pretty good time. And Sunday, Lucy's actual birthday, we went to a little fair-type thing and Lu got to ride a pony. She was so thrilled, she kept saying "LOOK AT ME!" To whomever would listen.

I've been putting off writing about Lucy's birthday because I wanted to write about how Lucy is the person who has had by far the most imact on my life. The little baby that made me a Mama. The toddler who made me a Mommy. The little girl who made me a Mom. But it's hard to write that because I'm not a huge fan of Three so far. I haven't really wanted the record to show that This Isn't Fun. But then again, what is this space but a place to be perfectly honest with myself and drag you along with me for the ride?

So.

Thee is really wonderful! When it's not sucking my will to live. It's smart and cute! When it's not sassy and contrary. Three is interesting conversations! When it's not creative ways to talk back. Three is playing fun, intricate imaginary games! When it's not striking out with fists or feet. Three is having a real sense of humor and telling jokes and laughing hysterically. When it's not "Sorry Mom!" lip service and "I was JUST..." reasoning corrections away.

So far Three is about fifty-fifty, then.

I have to think that some of it is latent Get Used To Sharing Attention With New Baby. But some of it is just plain 'ole Willful Child Out To Get Me Testing Boundaries. On the one hand, I'm glad she's nobody's fool and she'll fully understand something before she's on board with it. But on the other hand, how do I keep a kid safe who wants to just maybe put her TOE out into traffic to see if it gets run over and what that feels like. It's frustrating for both of us and generally not the best time in our lives.

It reminds me of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's poem There Was A Little Girl: "There was a little girl, who had a little curl/right in the middle of her forehead/When she was good, she was very very good/but when she was bad she was horrid [...]" (Which, now that I think about it was how my mother described ME, so maybe this is just payback. I shake my fist at your mother's curse, Mom!)

I mean, Lucy can be so sweet and play so nicely and come up with the funniest things to say and do. I love having conversations with her because she actually has some sort of insight or pretend bit or interesting observation to share, now. She's always been so verbal and so smart, and right now is no exception. And when she decides that she's not down with something? She turns into a wild beast of evil intentions. Flip, aaaaand flop.

I don't know why anyone calls the Twos terrible when Three ensues. Has nobody noticed? Because everyone I've talked to says that Three is the challenging age, not Two. I mean, Two was all about pushing boundaries, to actually FIND them. Three is systematically pushing at each section of boundary to see if and when they give. (Hopefully Four is all about living happily within them. Wouldn't that be nice!)

Minutes old:

One year old:

Two years old:

Three years old!

My little baby girl. My heart aches it's so full of love and pride for her. Be gentle with me, Three.