Life is But a Dream

I have to start my post tonight with my favorite moment of the day. Collin and Avind were cuddling in Avi’s bed as I finished reading to them and Avind hooked his arm around Collin’s neck to cuddle closer and said, “It’s fun having a brother.” 🤗

 

Gosh, I love it when they take that moment to love each other. Of course at times they fight and antagonize one another, but they are also very, very good to each other. What a treasure indeed to have my two boys. 

 

I have been wanting to write and update about my kiddos and our family adventures, but it never seems like the right moment. I almost don’t feel like I can do it justice. We are in the throws of the business of life, and I don’t want to miss anything. But as I wait for the perfect time to sit down, time quickly disappears. I was thinking about the lyrics to “Row, row, row your boat” the other day. Have you ever actually listened to what you are singing? “Row, row, row your boat, gently down the stream. Merrily, merrily, merrily, merrily, life is but a dream.” It is pretty profound! Life is but a dream. And we just row our boat along, day in and day out. And time goes so swiftly. Like a dream.

 

I have to talk about Avind first. Because he is so delightfully 3 year old. I have decided that Avind is very much like Curious George. Don’t leave him alone for too long…that is for sure! A few of my favorites as of late:

• He always says “this day” instead of “today.” “Are we going to the library this day?” I love it! I can hear it in his little Avind voice. I don’t want it to change. Ever. 

• He also refers to cities and states or countries as “world”s. I wish I could explain it well. He will say something like, “Well, we have mountains in our world. Does papa have mountains in his world?” And he says it, “whor-alds” with a little voice crack in there somewhere. 

• He extends his higher note ending tone into several different pieces. So, he will ask a question like, “Is it col…ol…ol…old in your room too?” Getting higher each time. It is delightfully cute. Which, by the way, don’t call him that (cute). He will glare at you and say, “No. I am Handsome!”

• He still loves apples. He was thrilled to get an apple from one of the Stewart’s crab apple trees awhile back and wouldn’t you know that Amanda gave us one to plant in our yard. Before it ever got in the ground, Avi had eaten every salvageable apple on it. He is anxious for it to make more. 

• Avind is a master staller. He takes forever to fall asleep and has a hard time settling down. And he is not a morning person. When I go in to wake the boys up in the morning, he always groans at me and puts his head under the pillow to block the light. Ha! I thought only teenagers did that! And he is down right grumpy for a good 30 minutes usually. 

• Avi has conquered thumb sucking. And he did it so easily! It was nuts! We had prepped him for several months, talking about how we were going to help him stop and asking what big prize he wants to earn. Finally, the day came, about 3 weeks ago. 

We put the Mavala on his tumbs, and my thumbs, and Blake’s. He took a while to fall asleep but not too bad. The next day skipped his nap so fell asleep really quickly at night. We put it on one more time, and then he hasn’t sucked on them since. Wow! It is interesting to observe your different children and how they are naturally good at different things. Avind is so adaptable. He potty trained in a week, and thumb trained in a week, and loves to perform. And he must be carried, can be clingy, will run in front of you and grab your legs so you have to pick him up. 😜 That last one drives me nuts. But of course as I think of it, it makes my heart warm and makes me smile. 

• He loves school. On the first day, he was so absolutely excited to be back. 

And on Fridays he often tells me how sad he is to leave, or says he wishes he were still at school. 

• This little bug is so tender. He often randomly leans in to me and tells me, “I just love you so somuch mommy! I just love you” And he gives lots of hugs and kisses. Especially when stalling, “But I didn’t give you your hug and kiss!!!” and he proceeds to give me 10 or 20 because the last one just wasn’t quite right. 

• Chloe will finally let Avind pet her. In fact, she will even meow at him until he pets her. That is a huge step! He loves animals. Horses are his favorites. And he loves to play with dogs. We really want to get him one soon. But that sounds like a lot of work!

I can't get his hair to stay down. I thought I'd I let it get long it would be heavy enough to stay down. Nope!

 

Alright, it is older brother’s turn! By the way, did you know that Collin is just a fabulously, wonderful person? He is so…considerate. He once saw Blake give me the last bite of something and Blake explained, “It’s what you do when you love someone.” Ever since then, Collin has always offered Blake and I the last of anything he eats. That there just describes him perfectly. He is so perseptive. And responsive. Ah, makes my heart swell and my eyes water. He is a good boy. Gosh, I love these two. 

• Well! Collin and I finished our Laura books! Made me get all emotional as I read about her preparing to get married. I have watched her grow up! ☺️ Well, in my mind at least. Collin and I decided that someday we are going to go to Missouri and visit Rocky Ridge Farmhouse, where Laura and Almanzo eventually settled. What a treasure it was to have that experience over the last 18 months. 

• With that ending, Blake began reading Harry Potter with Collin. He is hooked! We all are. Blake reads and reads and reads out loud to all of us. And Collin is so completely captivated. He tells us what he thinks is the reason things happen and voices his theories throughout the day. 

• Saddest little heart break moment last week. Collin and Avind were chasing each other around in the front room and Collin fell on his face. He cried for a moment because he hurt, but then he looked at the floor and saw his blue and red Ray Bans glasses snapped, and he just started bawling. Heaving big sobs. I knew we were going to be late, and I just didn’t care. I held my baby in my arms and let him cry. I was desperate to find another pair of frames just like them, but the eye doctor said they had discontinued the color. I wasn’t going to stop there. I got the model number and did some digging. Have no fear, this Momma found them and ordered a new one. This time, we also got smart and ordered a back up pair. Collin chose a red and black frame this time. He has been alternating each day. He is so styling! He can pull off cowboy boots, jeans, a sporty shirt, and hipster glasses all at the same time. It is incredible. 

• Collin also got his first cavities, which of course made us feel like awfully neglectful parents. See the thing is, we brush his teeth every single day. And we don’t drink soda or juice hardly at all. But…we haven’t been helping him floss. And his teeth are super tight together. And so, those nasty little sugar bugs did their damage. I told him he had to go back and he jumped up and said, “Yay! I love the dentist. You know, I think having a cavity is worth it to have to go back.” HAHAHA! Who ever in this world has ever said that?! Pretty sure no one. Except my boy. I had work so I didn’t get to be there. L But Blake took him. They gave him laughing gas. Collin kept saying, “Whoa. Am I in a dream? This feel like a dream. I can see the air all around us. Like a dream” Despite getting drilled into, when Dr. Monson was done Collin said, “But I don’t want to be done!” Go figure, eh?

• We have been coaching Collin’s little AYSO soccer team. And we are kicking some trash. ⚽️ A couple of games ago, on kickoff, Collin took the first touch, passes it perfectly diagonally to his teammate on the run, who one touched it diagonally right in front of the goal where Collin kicked it right in for the first goal of the game. I was in shock! Wow! Now, it is rarely ever that graceful on our field of 5-7 year olds, but for that one moment, we looked pretty awesome. We have handily won all the games. It is fun to see these kids we have coached for a couple years now really start to pick it up. 

• Collin loves to read. And that makes me so happy because I love to read! And so does Blake. He is getting really good at it. I love listening to him as he reads out loud to figure out the words. 

• Collin has Ms. Chacon this year for first grade. He still loves school and he teacher told me that she had to tell him, “Collin, believe me. I will teach you something new this year.” Sounds like we can work on teaching him to be teachable. But I am happy that school is still something he enjoys. 

• I have to mention that if avind is the champion staller, Collin is the master sleeper. Since he was a little ity bity baby, he has been good at sleeping. I cuddle next to him and in 10 seconds, he is out, deeply breathing. He must have gotten that talent from his Daddy! 

 

Alright! So, there you have it. There is so much much much more to the story of our lives. But at least now we have preserved a snapshot. We have put away a few more treasure moments so that we might have something to remember about this dream. 

 

 Last thing to briefly remember: it has been a beautiful autumn. We found a place just out of my dreams last week. I was in heaven. I felt like running and dancing and skipping. In fact, I may have done all of those. I mentioned that I felt like a dog running free so Blake decided I reminded him of a golden retriever. They'd boys decided that they will call me golden mommy. Then Avind yelled, "mom! Pick me up then and run like a dog!" 😆 and so I did. And it was wonderful. 

Until next time!