Special Exposure / Wordless Weds: Wishes

One afternoon, as I walked him home from school, James saw a dandelion gone to seed. From years of watching his sister, he knew what to do:

Honey, I remember when you could not hold something like a dandelion stem in your fingers. You could not lick a lollypop or blow bubbles, let alone talk and say "Look, Mommy -- I doing it!"

Right on, James. I hope you get your wishes. I am seeing some of mine come true in you, and I am so proud.


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               and ... Wordless Wednesday

SOOC Saturday: Play Date

It's been terrifically hot this past week, but the kids are plenty active nonetheless. So this Saturday I was lucky enough to connect with another mom and her kids for an early morning play date at a local park.

When we arrived at 10, it was already over 80*


James did not mind, even though he heats up easily. You can't tell from these photos, but his cheeks are about as red as raspberry sorbet:



Did I mention it was also humid? Unusually so for this area. Never mind that -- James still loved the sensation of sand on his limbs (and in his mouth --- yecccchhh!).



We had popsickles and cracker treats, plus water galore. It was over 100* when we left for lunch, but it was totally worth it. Check this out:



James is with a group of friends, and they are all playing together! This is an answer to a hope of our hearts. And when we left, the kids all said good bye to each other ... and one friend said, "I love James!"

Dang, I am tearing up again. But in a good way!


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Prehistoric Era

I am thankful we live in an area where people can come together and make such wonderful things:



I hope that James remembers this day and can tell me about it, somewhere down the road. He sure looked like he was having a good adventure at the Fair Before Time. He sure has been doing some more growling and roaring around the house lately.

School starts next week! Yikes!

Snuggle Time

Mornings are snuggle time around here. It used to be with my daughter. But she has discovered the joys of sleeping in. Besides, James gets up before she does 99.8% of the time, and she's in no rush to see him in the morning. La princessa takes a while to wake up.

So that leaves James and I. And he has become quite the snuggle bunny. Quite a turnaround from about age 2-3! This morning he got on my lap while watching a Disney Singalong tape, and asked me to sing "When you Wish Upon a Star" to him. How perfect is that? I felt thankful for my wishes for James that have been already come true. He is talking, better at walking, and is interacting more with people. And he is still his sweet, sunny self.

I used to wake (BK -- before kids) at the crack of noon. Not any longer, babe! As soon as I hear Mr Rise&Shine in his room (usually around 6-6:30) I am up. If I don't he has gotten into the habit of ripping aside the curtains and blinds (which, BTW, has destroyed the blinds) and standing up on his window ledge, so that everyone passing by our house gets a great view of him spread-eagled, standing up. Goooood Morning, Amsterdam!

Yikes.

And there's a lot of him to see. James has grown some more. 5T in shirts and 4/5T in pants; 10 in shoes. He is two months past four and is taller than half of my daughter's kindergarten classmates.