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Volume 5, Issue 12, Number 2
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December 24, 2001
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This has been both a difficult and fabulous year. Survivors from the Pentagon attack work in Hubby's conference room, senate staffers displaced by Anthrax work in mine; our minivan was stolen with my purse, credit cards and identification. Yet, we have so much to be thankful for: good health, our wonderful children, family, and good friends. These blessings overwhelm me this Christmas! Despite the year's tragedy, our family remains joyful!
Stealth Baby remains my special baby. He's the most empathetic child I've ever seen. Even at 21 mos. he's very concerned about his siblings and tries to comfort them when they are upset. He runs over to offer his hand when Precious falls, or give Pumpkin a hug when he's crying. If Stealth Baby hears someone say they are thirsty, he runs over to offer his juice cup. If Precious is having a pity party in bed, he walks over and pats her on the back - he's pretty amazing! That said, he also really enjoys getting on Precious's nerves. He's as big as she is (people ask me if they are twins all the time) and he lays in wait for her to put down a treasured toy so he can grab it and run away. . . and then acting like she is the aggressor taking a toy from him. However, the deliriously happy smile on his face as he scampers off gives him away! (Of course Precious acts like she's loosing a limb over every minor transgression.) Stealth Baby is the personification of the psalm "Make a joyous noise" - he's indeed a joyous noisy child, elated with life and delighted with nearly everything. He's really an inspiring child!
Precious is - and I say this with love in my heart - a pistol. My lord does she have opinions, and she's willing to bat a lot of eyelashes and break a lot of hearts to get her way. Precious is our headstrong, manipulative, awe-inspiring child; our mud-puddle princess in the thick of everything, who insists on wearing dresses, tights, hair bows and black tap shoes. The near highlight of her life is dance class, when she gets to wear a pink tutu and ballet shoes (which she also wears to bed on random days.) She even has a little bag to carry her ballet shoes to class, and as you can imagine, she thinks she is Queen of the World. (Aside, your life is not complete until you see 10 little sausages stuffed into these pink tutus hopping around the room - it's adorable!) With Precious, it is not so much a war as a battle of wits, and I'm still in absolute awe of the strong willed, sentient being we've somehow created.
Pumpkin remains my oblivious, hyperactive boy. Pumpkin is in kindergarten now, and seems to be thriving. He races through life in overdrive; climbing trees, chasing squirrels, jumping curbs on his bike. He's not one to stop and smell the flowers, as he'd rather crush them with his tractor. Now, with Pumpkin, it's war and it's personal. He chafes at my truly reasonable boundaries; he wants catsup for dinner, to climb 3 branches higher, or swim a little farther from shore. His passion for life won't be constrained by motherly concern, and he's aided (undercover) by his father who simply waits for mommy to turn around before building a bigger bike ramp. That said, he's a great little kid - you can't be with him for 5 minutes without smiling as he hatches a new plan to get his way. He's kind of like an argumentative Curious George!
Our household is a mixture of love and chaos, with a heaping portion of noise. (Noise is a BIG part of our daily bread.) The kids are fabulous; about 75% of the time they interact really well - Of course, the other 25% of the time they deliberately terrorize each other! A favorite toy is a huge fold out barn with farm animals (our livestock includes dinosaurs and Pokemon), and it's wonderful to see them playing with each other in elaborate games. Despite any hardship of being outnumbered, we really have a lot of fun together. Granted, you're always scrambling to cover the open man, and any time they are quiet for more than 5 minutes you know they're plotting trouble. But the joys of seeing them interact on the playground, teaching Pumpkin to ice skate, watching Stealth Baby's face when he hears the whistle of a train - these joys are so intense as to be indescribable.
It has been an exceptionally fulfilling year for me. I got to shake President Bush's hand at a speech, and see Lance Armstrong -who thanks to my brother I now idolize - up close outside the White House. This past spring I was honored to be the birth attendant for a very good friend, and got to hold my godchild right after birth (which was an incredible experience!) I decreased my hours at work (how part-time can I go and still be counted as employed?) and even took a total of 4 piano lessons (I can play 1 song! Woo hoo!) I also joined our local PTA, and my mouth and enthusiasm soon got me elected to the board as Treasurer. Not knowing my limits, I also write the school PTA newsletter. I end up at the school -Stealth Baby and Precious in tow - every Friday. Once a month Pumpkin's kindergarten class has some kind of party, so Precious, Stealth Baby and I attend - Pumpkin is always so thrilled when we show up, and Precious and Stealth Baby are so thrilled with being in the school they behave like angels! Then we all play outside together for recess, which has the same noise and crush of activity as Grand Central Station ! What a blast!
Another huge positive this year was the (near) completion of our new kitchen. A microwave needed to be replaced and faster than you could shriek "what are you doing?" we had removed subfloor, water pipes and drywall and I was attempting to wash dishes in a soak tub out on the deck. Which inevitably ended with 3 sudsy, nearly butt-naked (but happy) children fighting over who go to sit in the bubbles. (No neighbors have called child protection services yet.) Hubby and I were lucky in that his sister and brother-in-law have a clue about these things, and offered to come and help. In one weekend CYL and BL accomplished more in our house, renovation wise, then Hubby and I have managed in our entire existence. Unfortunately, as the kitchen shaped up, food started magically reappearing from it and we've since lost interest in completing all the little final touches. So I no longer expect it to be finished in my lifetime. But we now have a vibrant, (dare I say obnoxious?) Julie-designed kitchen. To say I love it is an understatement!!!
Hubby continues to work for the Army doing whatever he does with computers. He works with a really cool office, who have been very helpful since the loss of our car. Hubby continues to reserve his Wednesdays for softball, and I couldn't ask for a neater group of guys for him to hang with. They're improving with age and even moved up a division. Hubby is, of course, the children's favorite person in the universe, outside of maybe Santa Clause. Pumpkin and Hubby have an absolute blast together, and it's awesome to watch them playing hockey in the street (Stealth Baby and Precious play too - Stealth Baby uses a plastic golf club as a hockey stick) or Pumpkin yelling "I am the Pittsburgh Steelers!" as he flings a football at daddy. Oh yes, Hubby wants me to write how great and understanding he was after the car was stolen - and I leave it up to you to judge the validly of this statement since he reminds me daily of this fact. J
In conclusion, we have had our typical hurricane of a year, filled with love, laughter and kid-caused destruction. I think we were only at the hospital once or twice this year, so we're improving! We hope your family was untouched by the terrorist attacks, and that everyone you know has recovered to face the new year with not only hope, but joy. For those of you who are sick, or loving sick people, or missing someone special…we wish you strength and peace. Christ Lives! May his peace be with you.
The Highly Anticipated never duplicated . . . Famous Yates Quotes 2001