I’m trying desperately to file in my brain all the quirky, beautiful things the girls do at this stage in their lives- all the little glimpses of who they are and what they love. It’s hopeless, I know. I forget even as I start to remember. But I’m trying.
Lulu is a whirlwind, I know I’ve mentioned it before. I love to watch her in motion, watch her throw her heart open and enjoy life. They are great moments to watch. The best moments for me, however, the moments that make me cry and cry, are the moments when she’s still. The moments when she’s so overwhelmed by beauty or emotion that her little body calms in response. The other day we were playing in the park (no, she didn’t dig up any bones this time) and she was running like a wild thing as usual, until something made her stop. A cardinal. There are more cardinals here than you can shake a stick at, and they’re everywhere- my roof, the banana trees, the wild ginger. This one stood on top of a tree and started singing. Lulu turned her little head towards it. She walked over and sat down underneath the tree and listened to that bird sing for the longest time. In all her life I’ve never seen her so still. It was so beautiful I just cried and cried.
Mumu is a mischievous little monkey. She plays tricks on me. One day a while back I got the ridiculous notion that I could read a book while watching them. I know- nutty and naive. Anyway, predictably, the girls kept coming over and trying to swipe it so they could tear it to shreds. My bookcases are constantly under siege. You wouldn’t believe what they’ve done to the French Lieutenant’s Wife, and I haven’t even had a chance to read that book. And can’t, now! Anyway, I kept hiding the book under a blanket when they came near so it wouldn’t meet a similar fate, but while I was distracted by Lulu, Mumu managed to ferret it out without me noticing. I didn’t notice it was gone until she called out to me from the hallway. The had walked to the end of the hallway and climbed down 2 steps so her body was out of sight. Then she stuck her little arm around the corner and waved the book back and forth, guffawing with delight. Gotcha Mommy!
Oh yes, little girls, you’ve got me good. Sniff sniff. Why do happy memories make me sob!?
It’s things like that that actually turn out to mean the most to us, isn’t it? Some of the things that drive me crazy about my kids are oddly enough the same things that I find endearing at the same time.
I just read that back and it makes NO sense at all but I’m too tired to go back and delete it and start over. Blah….it’s been a long day.
Oh I do keep meaning to tell you that in checking my blog stats recently, I noticed some people are landing on my blog after doing a search for “baby neck cheese”….I kid you not. I think you mentioned it in one of your comments on my blog once so don’t feel so bad….now when people are looking for info on bad smells coming from their baby’s neck, they get both you and me….