My inspiration for this record of my days:

“The biggest mistake I made [as a parent] is the one that most of us make. . . . I did not live in the moment enough. This is particularly clear now that the moment is gone, captured only in photographs. There is one picture of [my three children] sitting in the grass on a quilt in the shadow of the swing set on a summer day, ages six, four, and one. And I wish I could remember what we ate, and what we talked about, and how they sounded, and how they looked when they slept that night. I wish I had not been in such a hurry to get on to the next thing: dinner, bath, book, bed. I wish I had treasured the doing a little more and the getting it done a little less” -Anna Quindlen

Sunday, January 17, 2016

Eli. And his imagination.

I love my little Eli and his HUGE imagination!


Lately one of his favorite games has been playing "Going to da beach."  He takes his chair outside, along with a blanket and umbrella.  He always brings a cup of water with a straw, and packs himself a snack.


He's usually content to go to the beach by himself, but the other day he decided to take some (imaginary) animals with him.  He had a giraffe, a cow, a horse, and a whole herd of goats!  He kept coming in to get bowls for water and grass to feed them.

After a while, though, he came in really upset.  "Mom! The daddy goat stepped on my toe, and now it really hurts!"  His mind had made it real enough to bring tears to his eyes!

In HEAVEN!  Holding puppies at Aunt Kami's house

He has a little stuffed "baby puppy" named Fubsy that goes everywhere with him.  Sadly, Fubsy had been missing for about two weeks.  I found him recently while folding laundry, and called Eli in excitedly to show him.  He was, as predicted, SUPER excited.  He hugged Fubsy and spun around and around saying "I can't believe it!"  After a minute, he started to worry that it was too good to be true.  "Wait, Mom.  Are we in a gweam? (translation dream)?"  When I told him that no, this wasn't a dream, he turned back to Fubsy.  "Fubsy!  It's not a gweam!!"

This packing job really struck my funny bone.  He packed his own suitcase to go to Thatcher.  These are, apparently,  all the most important things to take along.  Fubsy is the little black dog on the right.




One of our favorite pastimes- cuddling on the hammock after the kids leave for school

I keep trying to get Eli to promise that he will stay 4 forever.  He just laughs and says that he's going to grow up and be a dad.   I can't imagine life without a little one around the house!  I guess it is bound to happen at some point.  Heaven knows I don't have the energy that I used to.

But in the meantime, I'm enjoying every day that I have with this loving, enthusiastic, imaginative boy.  I'm so grateful that he's mine!