So given that my last post was from the first day of school in August it would seem that I'm falling down on the job here with the blogging. At some point I'll catch up on the time and events in between, from field trips to lost holidays to marches and beyond, but since Rebecca just had her birthday we're just going to pick up there for now ;)
Rebecca is 4!
Rebecca turned 4 last month and she's quite excited about it. As we do every year around her birthday, we watched the video our birth photographer shot of Kevin's and my first hours cuddling with our newest addition, and it was hard to believe she'd ever been that small. 2017 Rebecca said "I'm big enough to hold that baby Rebecca now!"
A few months ago we had gone to a trampoline park for a birthday party for one of Daniel's friends and Rebecca declared that she wanted to have her party there too. She never wavered from that decision, so that's what we did. About a dozen of her friends, mostly from school, came out to join her in jumping, playing, and eating cupcakes.
Speaking of those cupcakes, she threw me a curveball by asking for "rainbow cupcakes." I Googled, showed her a picture, and she confirmed that was what she wanted. So, all I had to do was learn how to make them. I cook a lot but seldom bake so I had my doubts but turns out (shh, don't tell!), it's actually not that hard, just involved. So, she wanted rainbow cupcakes, she got them! Non-crafty mom for the win ;)
She's in Ms. Susie's class in preschool and loves her and Ms. Shweta, the assistant teacher. She loves learning and taking on challenging works. The most exciting recent development on that front: reading! She started with tentatively sounding out 3-letter words but is becoming more confident and progressing to longer words and books by the day.
No one is more excited about this development than big brother Daniel. He's like another proud parent, the way he cheers her on and helps her sound out tough words. It's really sweet to see.
Best friends...
Rebecca has several school/church friends she's close with but she and Daniel are probably each other's best friends these days. They want to sleep in the same room any chance they can get and even when we have to separate them for being noisy, we've later gone back up and found that one had snuck into the other's room anyway, like on this night.
...alas, not more
One day on the way home from school pickup they blindsided me out of nowhere with a surprising idea: they wanted to get married and have babies together! As I navigated a 2-ton vehicle through rush hour traffic I pondered how to respond to that. Being a lawyer I went with the "sorry, that's against the law" card, but said that they would always be in each other's lives as brother and sister and getting married is about finding someone who isn't already in your family and making a new family. They were so sad ("but whyyy can't we have babies together?") but seemed somewhat mollified when I said that they could each pick someone to marry and the couples could live right next door and all be best friends, and when they learned that girls can marry girls and boys can marry boys (look kids, you have a lot of options, way more than most people have throughout history, you just can't pick someone in your family!). It's funny, I can disappoint my kids at least half a dozen different ways on any given day, that just wasn't one I saw coming!
The topic has come up again a few more times since that evening so they haven't quite let the idea go yet but I imagine as they get older it'll sort itself out and the idea of marrying their sibling will sound awful ;) But they're very sweet with each other--Daniel especially is endlessly generous with Rebecca and has even been known to give her his whole dessert sometimes--so if they hold out for a mate who treats them as well as their sibling does, they're setting a good high bar.
Okay, even this post took me a month and a half to finish. Maybe I'll catch up and work in some events from fall and winter next...we'll see ;)
No one is more excited about this development than big brother Daniel. He's like another proud parent, the way he cheers her on and helps her sound out tough words. It's really sweet to see.
Best friends...
Rebecca has several school/church friends she's close with but she and Daniel are probably each other's best friends these days. They want to sleep in the same room any chance they can get and even when we have to separate them for being noisy, we've later gone back up and found that one had snuck into the other's room anyway, like on this night.
But the funniest discovery was the other night. We had told them to go to their own rooms but when I went into their rooms to give one last goodnight kiss I was surprised to find neither one was in their rooms. Then I opened one of the doors to the jack and jill bathroom between their rooms and found...this.
Apparently they wanted to be together so badly that they were willing to forego beds and sheets to be together!
...alas, not more
One day on the way home from school pickup they blindsided me out of nowhere with a surprising idea: they wanted to get married and have babies together! As I navigated a 2-ton vehicle through rush hour traffic I pondered how to respond to that. Being a lawyer I went with the "sorry, that's against the law" card, but said that they would always be in each other's lives as brother and sister and getting married is about finding someone who isn't already in your family and making a new family. They were so sad ("but whyyy can't we have babies together?") but seemed somewhat mollified when I said that they could each pick someone to marry and the couples could live right next door and all be best friends, and when they learned that girls can marry girls and boys can marry boys (look kids, you have a lot of options, way more than most people have throughout history, you just can't pick someone in your family!). It's funny, I can disappoint my kids at least half a dozen different ways on any given day, that just wasn't one I saw coming!
The topic has come up again a few more times since that evening so they haven't quite let the idea go yet but I imagine as they get older it'll sort itself out and the idea of marrying their sibling will sound awful ;) But they're very sweet with each other--Daniel especially is endlessly generous with Rebecca and has even been known to give her his whole dessert sometimes--so if they hold out for a mate who treats them as well as their sibling does, they're setting a good high bar.
Okay, even this post took me a month and a half to finish. Maybe I'll catch up and work in some events from fall and winter next...we'll see ;)
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