a day in the life

I read several blogs that write such sweet posts about their children, and I keep thinking someday I'm going to write that way about my babies, too. But here's a true and strange fact - the closer I am to someone, the less likely I am to write about them, and if I ever do, I'm almost guaranteed not to share it publicly. It's why Brian doesn't make an appearance here very often, why most of the stories about my kids are anecdotal, and why my parents are peripheral here. I can usually write to process something, but relationships are different. Weird. Anyway, here are a few anecdotes that could be poignant if I weren't so odd:

- Asher has discovered the alphabet. Through osmosis, Wheel of F0rtune, and public television, he has absorbed several letters and a few of their sounds. So I decided that if he wanted to learn, I would begin teaching them. Last week we talked about the "K" sound. There were keys nearby, and I said, "Ka-ka-key. Key starts with 'K'." The next day, I asked him if he wanted a cookie. "Cookie!" he replied (that means yes). Then he said, "Ka-ka-cookie. Ka-ka-K!" At nineteen months old. Next week he'll be handing in five-paragraph essays.

- Whenever Asher sees crosses, he points and says "Jesus!" Jesus is pronounced Gee-Gus. We live in the Bible belt, and are believers, so we see lots of crosses in a day. Meaning, I hear "Gee-Gus!" all day long. As a result, the song "Jesus is just alright with me" loops in my head. All afternoon I'm humming "Gee-gus, He's my friend."

- Silas is two months old today. I'm astounded that God has built such a rhythm and predictability into life that, as promised, starting TODAY - his two-month birthday - Silas' sleeping has become much more ordered. Awake at five a.m., ready for bed at five p.m. Exactly what I was told would happen. Although Silas' daytime sleep is becoming predictable as well (at least, it has been for the last five days or so), and "they" would say that shouldn't happen for another two months. All of a sudden, he has a rhythm of his own, not just what has been imposed by his parents. Amazing. Between that and his little dimpled grin that he's showing off more and more, I think we'll let him stay.

- Major transitions always take longer than I expect them to. But it feels like this past week, something clicked in our home. Asher is showing some minor jealousy, which shows he understands that Silas is not a passing event, but part of our life now. He also misses him when he's not around. Asher spent the morning away, and as soon as he saw me again (and saw that Silas wasn't in my arms) he asked about him. He's beginning to act like a brother.

- The Fun Box is a raving success. This morning I heard, among the typical early morning chatter from his bed, Asher saying, "Fun box fun box FUN BOX!" Mikkee pointed out that he probably likes it because of the one-on-one attention more than the materials in the box. I think she's right. Last week he walked up to it (it's just a plain cardboard box, nothing fancy) and said all the letters he knew. "I-J-B-T-O-I-A: FUN BOX!" I swear if I'd had the video camera on we could have won ten thousand dollars.