How do I love you?

Over the past few weeks Daniel and I have had a sweet game we play at bedtime where we describe the ways we love each other. The game has had a few variations.

Variation #1: Distance

A spin on the "I love you to the moon and back" line.

Examples: 

"I love you to the school and back." "I love you to chapel and back."

"I love you to the garage and back." "I love you to the back door and back."

"I love you to the bathroom and back." "I love you to the toilet and back."

"I love you the ceiling and back." "I love you to the fan and back."

Variation #2: More than this

Examples:

"I love you more than ice cream." "I love you more than chocolate."

"I love you more than my bed." "I love you more than pillows."

"I love you more than your car." "I love you more than your bicycle."

Variation #2: Body parts

Examples:

"I love your eyes." "I love your smile."

"I love your brains." "I love your heart."

"I love your legs." "I love your feet."

Then, one day, a weird turn.

Daniel, to me: "I love your penis." (It seems our prior discussions of how boys and girls are different failed to register.)

Whether measured in distance, dessert, or body parts, I love my sweet boy and I love my sweet boy's big heart. Nearly every day he impresses me with some kind, thoughtful comment or gesture. Last weekend when I had stomach flu he wanted to take care of me and the next day when we shopped for Halloween costumes he chose a doctor costume so he could continue taking care of me. He enjoys sharing his desserts with Rebecca and tonight as we were getting ready to leave the house to go to dinner he went over to Rebecca to give her a big hug and asked if we were taking her with us, because he didn't want to go without her.

On a related note lately he's been on a kick of drawing pictures of our family. He learned the idea from an episode of Daniel Tiger when Daniel draws such a picture for his new baby sister's room. My Daniel's first picture of the family now hangs in Rebecca's room per his request.

A week or two ago he did a variation on the family picture. I told him about Baby Ellie, the 22 month-old daughter of some Aggie friends who has had several strokes and 2 major brain surgeries in the past few months and is even now still in the hospital. He has been praying for her every day "Dear God, please make the owie in Baby Ellie's head better." Then, on his own, he decided to do this:

I wrote the note but the artwork is all his. It's a picture of our family with Ellie and one of her parents (I forget if it was to be her mom or dad).

I've come to the conclusion that Daniel already knows more than most people about kindness, sweetness, and compassion. It's not my job to teach him those things, it's my job instead to nurture and preserve the big heart he already has.

Tinkle, tinkle little star!

A few weeks ago at the house of some friends Rebecca saw a potty chair. Though she'd never used one before or seen one used she knew what to do. She took off her clothes and diaper and sat down. Much to everyone's surprise, she struck gold, so to speak, on her first attempt!

When we got home I dug Daniel's old potty chairs out of storage and set one upstairs and one down. Since then we offer the potty a few times a day. Sometimes she wants to sit, sometimes she doesn't. I don't push her to do it but do give plenty of praise when she does sit. She's always quite pleased with herself after she sits, regardless of outcome!

Sometimes she drills a dry hole but more often that not she has success. A few times she has started taking off clothes on her own and pointed to the potty and promptly had a BM after sitting down so I think she's able to anticipate those and wants to do them in the potty. 

I don't consider her to be potty-training yet, and I don't think she's ready for that. But I'm glad to see she is gaining awareness and has desire to use the potty. She'll start preschool in February when she turns 2 and I'm optimistic that by then she may at least be out of diapers during awake periods. It's a promising start.

Weekend of fun

A few weekends ago Kevin was out of town and my mom came in to visit. We managed to pack a lot into those 3 days she was here.

That Friday evening we took the kids to Klyde Warren Park, one of the best new things in Dallas in the last few years. We bought dinner from one of the food trucks and had a picnic on the lawn. Then, after dinner, the kids had a great time running and playing in the playground. We topped off a fun evening with custom-made ice cream sandwiches from the food trucks. As the weather turns cooler and more pleasant I foresee a lot more Klyde Warren evenings in our future this fall.

The next day was the day Daniel and I had looked forward to for weeks, the A&M-SMU game. I got up to run and came home to a find the kids enjoyed a delicious breakfast. They always eat well when Mimi visits! Then Daniel and I donned our Aggie gear and headed for SMU. We arrived in time to hit the Dallas A&M Club and SMU Law School tailgate parties and it was fun to catch up with some friends out there. It was interesting being back on the SMU campus; even as a student there I barely ever ventured beyond the law quad into main campus. It felt vaguely familiar but I mainly just trusted the crowd to lead us to the stadium ;)

Our tickets (bought aftermarket on Stubhub) were in the SMU student section though you'd never know it from all the maroon around us. In fact, it was a sea of maroon all over campus that day. It made me both proud of the Aggie turnout and sad for SMU.

The game was about as competitive as you'd expect a matchup between the #6 team in the country and a team you could legitimately argue might be the worst Division I team and whose coach had just resigned. That was great for Daniel because our seats in the end zone proved to be a great spot to watch touchdowns get scored and extra points landed in the section right next to us. As excited as Daniel had been about the idea of "the Johnny football players" he was bored once we were there and soon asking to go home. (In fairness, it was a very hot afternoon.) I told him we had to stay to watch the Aggie band and then we could go. It was fun to watch his eyes light up as the band marched out and began the opening notes of the War Hymn.

As we were walking to our car he said he had a great time and wanted to go again tomorrow. He was probably a little young for this game but it'll be fun to take him and Rebecca in coming years, and someday show them around Aggieland.

The next day we crossed another item off my mom's Dallas bucket list. She had never been to the Dallas Zoo before, despite spending part of her childhood in Dallas, and the 3 of us had only been once last summer, so that was on the agenda Sunday. Last time we went Rebecca was a newborn who slept happily in my Beco carrier the whole time. This time she eagerly pointed out the "nimals" and wanted to be lifted up for a closer view. She and Daniel both were especially interested in the elephants, giraffes, and koalas. It'll be fun to go back as they get older and have longer attention spans; by the end of the outing we were all DONE.

It was a busy weekend and I was ready for a recovery day after all that walking around and time in the sun but we had a great time! Thanks Mom!