Look! My house is deco-wated!

Some say that the holidays are mostly for the children. But the bright lights, the brilliant trees...they get to us all. And sometimes, it's just so beautiful that you have to go running around the yard in just your socks, jumping to reach the candy canes, looking at all the lights from every angle you can. Sometimes it's so beautiful that you just savor it, even when everything else is dim.

Train ride to the zoo

It was a little chilly, and long day, but somehow it turned out just perfect all the same. A couple days ago I was thinking about how we haven't had a fun day in awhile. So I figured a little day trip was long overdue... We had thought about going to a zoo a couple hours away, but I thought if we were to ride the Metro up to the DC zoo, then Brent could spend part of the day riding trains, and part looking at animals. What kid wouldn't like that?

Well, it turns out his mother didn't do so hot on the trains. I guess I was so focused on getting pictures of him that I got a bit sick.
Luckily the mile walk from the train station to the zoo helped get some fresh air in me. Not so luckily, I had to carry him most of the way, and it was uphill. But as you can see, he had a blast riding the subway. These pictures were all from the ride up, as the ride back would have just been one long shot of him snoring, wrapped up in my jacket and leaning on me, with a puddle of drool running down my arm. Poor baby got wore out!

The first animal we saw turned out to be the highlight for me, as he was loudly shouting "Look!! Look Mommy! Look at all the Cheet-ohs!!!" You know, large cats...fastest land animals. Oh, man...if I could have had that on tape. I will add that to the list of words that I refuse to teach him how to correctly pronounce, because they are too adorable to give up. The others currently are:


Hippo (meaning "pillow)
Peppa-Oni (pepperoni)
Hook (for the hood on his jacket)

Most of the other animals weren't really very animated, as it was a little chilly yet, but we still got to see more than we would have sitting here at the house watching "Cars" and "Thomas". So, mission accomplished.

And on the ride home, as he leaned on me, sleeping as only a child can after a day full of new surprises, I realized that days like today are what Thanksgiving is really about. And I am so thankful, today and every day, for all that I am able to experience...for all the love in my life...and for being able to see the world through the eyes of this vibrant creature I am so lucky to share it with.

Like an Angel...

My new excitement in life is the fact that I get to sing again! Ever since I learned I was pregnant, I've been singing to Brent, lullabies, or Christmas songs, or children's songs. He was serenaded more in utero than perhaps any child alive today. And the day finally came when I would get to see his reactions. I dreamed of rocking him and singing him to sleep...of soothing him with just my voice.

Only...it turns out he hated it when I sang. I don't know how many times I heard "No singing, Mommy!!" or "No like that song!!". And, I know I'm no Britney Spears (wait, that may be a good thing), but I can hold a decent tune. I've done my fair share of karaoke and I've never been boo-ed off stage. Granted, my crowd was the soberest of crowds, but still...

Then, one night last week, a strange thing happened. We were laying in his bed sharing stories before bedtime, and out of the blue he started singing "Twinkle little star". He knew the words! He was having fun with it! And slowly after a few days I was allowed to join in. Next came the A,B,C song. Then, on the way home from daycare, we started rotating several others into the mix. And he actually likes it when I sing to him now!

But best is when he thinks no one is watching, and he sings softly to himself in the most perfect of voices. It stops me dead in my tracks, and I spend those moments savoring yet another precious moment that will one day be nothing but a memory. There will be that day that he starts remembering to put the "T,U,V" into the alphabet song. Then the day where the majority of the letters are pronounced right. Then maybe even a day when he stops bobbing his head up and down with each new note, while overexaggerating the way his lips should be in order to say all the letters. And finally one day, I'll be banned from singing once again.

But I'll have my memories stored up. Every one is more precious a gift than the one before it.