Big boy sentences, big aspirations

Today in the car, Dash said to me "Mommy, when I grow up, I gonna be...."  and in the nano-second it took him to finish his sentence, I had all these flashes of the great things he was going to say.  A doctor!  A construction worker!  A chef! An epidemiologist!  He then finished his sentence with "... a crocodile!  So I can go in the wah-tah!"  Big boy sentences, big boy aspirations, eh?  And then his hopes were dashed when Ella turned to him and said "Dashy, that is NEVER going to happen."  But he was unphased.  He just said "Well, I be a lion?"

Music to my ears

Things I love to hear come out of my kids' mouths: "We're having butternut squash soup for dinner? YES!"

Boots

Tried to pack for a business trip but someone was wearing the boots I wanted to take.

Reader

In the last few months, Ella's reading skills have really taken off. She is now devouring The Magic Treehouse series of books which are chapter books for the early elementary school set. She has a few of her own and we always check more out of the library, and she reads them all through without any help, and then reads them over and over and over. At night after we tuck her in, she almost always turns back on her lamp and pulls out a Magic Treehouse adventure to read. She also calls down to keep us updated on her progress: "I'm on Chapter 2! I just finished Chapter 5! One chapter left! I finished Dinosaurs at Dawn for the 6th time!" There are something like 50 books in the series, and my compulsive side is somewhat bothered by her reading them all out of order, but she doesn't seem to mind so I'm trying not to push.

Mud pie

My friend S had a birthday party for herself tonight, and she invited 5 other families to come for a late afternoon playdate and casual dinner. I don't know if it was the perfect combination of families, or her rambling house with great indoor and outdoor spaces, or the lovely spring evening, or just having a fun social event on a Monday (or, hello, clearly the combo of all of the above!), but it was just a super wonderful evening. The gaggle of a dozen kids, ranging in age from 1 to 7, had a ball together, and as we all sat on S's front patio enjoying the spring air and the homemade cupcakes (my gift to S) and the kids going in and out, all being looked after by each other and the other parents, I was struck by how the whole evening just felt affirming of why we live in this town, in this community, and how lucky in this life. The evening ended with many of the kids digging with great purpose and gusto in the mud in the backyard. I took it as a sign of a really great time that my kids were so covered in muck and mud by the time we finally got home that they had to be stripped down on the front porch and carried directly to the bathtub.

Santa brang it

Dash loves to show people his train table and tell people that "Santa brang it!" Since we don't have a playroom, it lives in his room which is all fine and good now while he's still in a crib.  All bets are off once he moves into a bed he can get out of.  I predict we'll be hearing "Choo choo!"s emanating from his room at all hours of the night...