I’ve noticed that with newborn babies, they keep you up throughout the night and cry inconsolably (some more than others), require a million diaper changes and never let you get out of house for the first little while and in the case of all my babies require extensive blood work, doctor’s visits and constant bilirubin lights. All this right after you’ve gained tons of weight having just gone through pregnancy. However, just when you’re about to throw in the towel with your hopes for a happy relationship with the little person, they start smiling and win you over again.

I’m starting to think maybe this pattern repeats it’s self throughout life. Take for example, James. He can be such a lovely cuddle-bug momma’s boy, then he goes through a phase like he’s been in this last month, where he decides it would be fun to pee in all the garbage cans next to the toilet rather than the actual toilet, wake up Ryan from his nap “to play with him”, terrorize his little sister non-stop, sneak out of bed and hide behind the couch hours after his bedtime, revert to baby talk (i.e. Jamsie wants milky) act out No more Monkey’s Jumping on the Bed every time I make our bed, and throw every pillow in the house into a big pile at the bottom of the stairs to jump into (with no intention of picking them up of course). Just when I’m to the point of phoning the school district to demand full-day kindergarten we do a reading lesson and he writes a note, Jamesluvsmomfoever. Then he tells me he never wants to get old because he wants to live with me forever followed by a big hug and kiss. He can be such a little charmer.

Since Gracie gets speech therapy, she occasionally gets evaluated to see how she is progressing. The therapist asked if she could jump from a stair onto both feet. I didn’t know so she had Gracie show her and sure enough she could do it. Later James came down to see what was going on. He climbed onto the table and when I told him feet don’t belong on the table he leapt off the table to the floor about five feet away. I pointed out that he obviously isn’t having problems with his jumping.

Sometimes I hear a ball bouncing in the garage and sure enough, Jonathan is in there dribbling away. He did a report on cheetahs and took his stuffed animal, Mr. Cheetah in a brown bag to school so his class would have to guess the animal by his description of it. I hope first grade isn’t too old to be attached to a stuffed animal cheetah. A week or two ago, we were at the library and he had wondered off. Soon, I realized that on his own accord, he had asked the children’s librarian to take him to the adolescent section to help him find the 5th Harry Potter book (a book we’ve put off limits until he’s a little more mature). Who would have known he could be so resourceful?

Gracie told me I look like a princess this morning. She also thinks lip gloss all over her face is lovely so I probably shouldn’t let it go to my head. She insists on giving Michael a hug and kiss before he leaves and is quite distraught if she finds out he has ever left the house without one.

Ryan likes to clap, wave and grunt. His favorite past times are unrolling toilet paper, crawling up the stairs every chance he gets and pushing his stroller and Gracie’s new tricycle around.