Laughter, the best medicine

Geez, I can't believe it has been almost a month since we blogged. Things have been busy around the Matilda household. It seems like they are starting to settle out a bit, but it is still going to be a long spring push until we get to summer. Not that we have any summer vacations anymore, but a kid can dream, can't he?

In the meantime, the kids have been growing like the dickens. Caroline is almost 8 months old already, which is hard to believe, and will probably be crawling any day now. We are looking forward to heading down to Chuck-town for the Bridge Run in a couple of weeks, which will be a nice break from the last month or two of just sitting around the house and surviving on the weekends while either Doc or Matilda has to work. Most of the time it's been Matilda (thank you, Mother Green).

Anyway, it is high time I shut up and posted some videos, which is what I am sure everyone has been waiting for. So here you go - Jack trying to make Caroline laugh, and succeeding mightily:

Girls, Girls, Girls...

Best buds..

Picking some toe jam..

Hey, lemme tell you a secret..

Hey Rubens, take a good look at these curves..

A Bicycle Built for Two

Daisy, Daisy, give me your answer, do,

I'm half crazy all for the love of you.

It won't be a stylish marriage -

I can't afford a carriage,

But you'd look sweet upon the seat

Of a bicycle built for two.

It sure is going to be fun when these two start playing together...

A taste of what's to come...

We got a pretty special package in the mail today. I'd like to share it with you all, but my parents have tickets to the premiere and I think they are entitled to the first shot.

But I did want to post just a little snippet or two of some fond memories. I remember back in 1987, I think it was, Spartanburg got 16 inches of snow and the whole city was shut down for what seemed like a month. We got our fill of sledding and running around and fires in the wood stove. We had a great front yard for sledding, plenty of elevation and a long steep driveway and some good jumps.

Here's a screen grab, not the best quality in the world - but look at the size of that snow man! After building one this past December that was only half that size, I can appreciate the hard work and skill that went into this masterpiece. But what is really great is watching the playful interaction between me and my sisters, and how without sound you can't quite tell but it looks like everyone is having the time of their young, snowy lives...

Fireman Jack

We had a fun time exploring the fire station on sunday. Jack particularly liked to climb on the fire trucks and run around the bay. I think we're on a career path here!

Location : Holt Chappel Ln, Elon, NC 27244,
Posted via Blogaway on Android 2.2

Happy Love Day

Well it's here again, this most wonderful of days.  I've heard the rumblings and grumblings from various friends and coworkers over the last week who feel this is just a sensationalized way for Hallmark and 1800Flowers to make their annual profit as well as get many a men in the doghouse for a lackluster performance.    To both of those sentiments I say "Rubbish!"  For the former, so what if this is their big money maker.  It's not like Christmas has any less meaning to Baby Jesus because Walmart makes a killing on it.  And for the latter, well that's just laziness.  It doesn't take a million dollars or a surprise scavenger hunt to spread the love.  The best Valentine's Day card I ever received was a handwritten one from my husband. Now, granted, the last line was "Will you marry me?" but still you get my point.  Well, at least I hope you do because it's an important one.

Valentine's Day is a holiday meant to remind us to appreciate the most important thing of all: our relationships.  All living organisms are meant to be symbiotic with others of their kind.  There is safety in numbers - from cold weather (more bodies to snuggle), from illness (more people to survive), from large saber-toothed tigers (you only have to be faster than the slowest one behind you).  So nature has designed a way to link us indescribable to each other.  Love.  It comes in many forms and hardly is ever the same version repeated between any two people but it all has one thing in common.  It is our life force.  It is what we all need to survive. We need to feel loved and to love others in return.  That inexplicable bond nourishes our souls in a way nothing else can and no matter how bitter and jaded one may come across, we all crave it.  Unfortunately, all too often, we all take it for granted as well.  When is the last time you told your mother how much you loved her?  When's the last time you called up your sister just to tell her she meant a lot to you?  What about that good friend that got you through the worst breakup of your life...have you sent her an email lately just to tell her you miss her?

I'm as guilty as they come.  This past year, with the expansion of our family and starting a full time job, I've gotten bogged down in the daily happenings of a life full of To Dos.  I have not fed my relationships in the ways that I want to.  I haven't made the time to see my best friend for coffee more than every few weeks.  I haven't made the trip to Charlotte to see my family as much as I'd like.  I haven't kept in contact with my girlfriends well or chatted over the fence with our neighbors or even let my hairdresser know how much I love our monthly time together.  I do try every day to tell my children how much I adore them, mostly because they are the sun that my world revolves around right now, but I'm sure my husband could use a few more I Love Yous throughout the day.  Which brings me back to why I love this holiday.

It is my reminder.  It's not the only one I get, thanks to the nature of my career.  I see lives change in an instant on an unfortunately regular basis. I diagnose cancers and heart attacks and strokes.  I hold hands while I watch families get news that makes the earth stop turning for them.  I see just how fast all of these relationships can change so I do get serviced with more reminders than most, I'd care to wager.  Maybe that's why I embrace this one so much. It's a pleasant, chocolate-filled, nobody-is-sick-or-dying reminder to love one another openly and without reservation.

I saw a commercial this weekend from Hallmark that may just become my mantra.  "Valentines Day is about I love us."  I love us.  I love what we are together.  I love how we are linked in this life, however that may be.

This little blog we have is not frequented by many people but those that do read it are some of the most important people to me.  So I hope when you read this, it reminds you that I Love Us.  Thank you for that.

Here's hoping you have a spectacular, chocolatey, lovely, memorable Valentine's Day. 

From the Vault: Little Rachmaninoff

This is less of a current events post, and more an effort to respond to unrelenting familial pressure to keep this blog updated frequently. Fortunately, I taped this little gem back around Christmas and got it uploaded to Youtube, and it is posted here tonight for your viewing pleasure....

My favorite part is when he turns the page on the sheet music. Clearly, this kid has a level of natural talent that 5 years of piano lessons did not begin to unearth in his father. Bravo!

Birthday Fun

Jack (and the rest of the family) enjoyed a solid three-day stretch of birthday celebration this weekend. Choo-choo trains, fire trucks, water fountains, truck books, pillow pets, balloons, streamers, and little cakes shaped like our favorite animal, the Monkey. It even warmed up enough to go for a walk today!

  

GG showed up Friday morning and got to pal around all afternoon. She even got to spend the night in Jack's room, which is always a good thing because you never know when there might be a Tickle Monster on the prowl. They are sneaky little devils, and often come camouflaged as mothers. So fast, you can't even cathc them on camera, they blend right in, but the smiles they leave behind are unmistakable evidence of their existence.

 

   

Saturday morning the other guests started arriving - Bud and Nana got here while Mommy was picking up her new car, and Matt and Rachel and Callie were just a few minutes behind. We were so lucky to have such wonderful people to join us in celebrating Jack's 2nd birthday - I know he enjoyed the company:

And the attention:

And the cake:

I can't believe this little guy is 2!

   

Seven hundred and thirty

At some point a few minutes past 8 o'clock Friday morning, our little Jack entered his third year of life on earth, now officially a Two Year Old. It is amazing to think that in the interim between today and January 28th 2009 we have seen 730 sunrises and 730 sunsets, each circumscribing days which have left an epic and indelible mark on our lives. (If we were counting the number of "no it's not morning yet conversations" that marked so many of those mornings, the number would be much higher).

And with so many diurnal iterations under his little belt, Jack really seems to have come into his own - walking, talking, thinking, learning, laughing and making jokes. He knows his grandparents, loves his "Sissy", plays with his cousins, and is generally a ham to whomever he thinks he can conquer with a simple smile - the rest of us, he just persuades with a small petulant fit. "Outside", "Orange", "Choo-choo", "Bulldozer" and "Eee-oh-eee-oh" (you know, the sound that fire engines make) are his current top five faves. And in addition to the words, and colors, and numbers, and books and laughter, what I just can't get over are his myriad expressions, looks that once in a while so clearly communicate ideas that I know he won't be able to articulate for years yet, but that somehow as a walking, talking member of our race, he just knows. Competition, joy, one-up-manship, wonder, sweet hugs for mom and dad and Caroline - he gets all these things so obviously that it is just thrilling to watch.

This morning, I told him of course that he couldn't have peppermints for breakfast (typically Cheerios and fruit at half past 6), but that maybe he could have one after lunch if he was good. Well, somehow around 8:30 he managed to cajole a small piece of peppermint while under the watchtful (but relenting) eye of G.G., and quietly walked up to me in the den and just looked up at me while I was writing this. A little devious twinkle glimmered in his eyes, as if to say "I told you so.." as he opened his mouth and displayed the red and white sugary contents. He snapped his jaws shut, grinned like fiend and ran off to GG without another word to me, to dole out his hugs in exchange for more sweets.

It just doesn't get any sweeter than that. Happy Birthday, Son.

A Hodgepodge of Things

If this isn't what life is all about then I don't know what is.

The Bride of "Ram-Man"

If you are anything like me, you look fondly back on your childhood days when the battle between Good and Evil was as simple as GI Joe vs. Cobra Commander, or He-Man vs. Skeletor. In fact, one of the toys I remember vividly was this one He-Man action figure, Ram-Man. Ram-Man was this sidekick of He-Man, a sturdy warrior of poor verbal skills that ran down most of his enemies with a battering-ram like head. I had one of these, and he had spring-powered legs that, when compressed, would knock his head into whatever you pointed it at.

We've been worried since Caroline has taken to hanging out in the Jumperoo, which we hang in the kitchen doorway, that her vigorous hopping and bouncing and swaying is going to lead to a head injury before long. It really wouldn't be that hard to bang into the door jamb. And that would be the end of the Jumperoo.



Fortunately, our fears have been recently assuaged by her increasingly prominent plagiocephaly, which today resulted in her getting fitted for a cranial molding helmet:

 

At least they come in pink. 

The Wreck of the Old No. 9

Of course, you have all heard the story of the Wreck of the Old Number Nine, the classic Jim Reeves ballad:

But what you probably didn't know is that, instead of an unexpected oncoming train, the real cause of the disaster was a devious toddler in charge of the track controls that day:

Shenanigans...

White Christmas

For the first time in a long time, that I can remember, we had ourselves a White Christmas. Now granted, the snow didn't really get going until the evening of the 25th, but hey, that counts!

Greensboro and the surrounding areas (meaning most of the Carolinas) were blanketed with 4-8inches of powdery white goodness, turning our normally nondescript neighborhood into a winter wonderland.  By the time we went to bed, we had a solid half-foot in the yard and on the cars.

Nice wet snow and below freezing temps gave us good accumulation and plenty of snow sticking to bushes and tree limbs. We got up early on Sunday morning and were the first people in the neighborhood to go tramping down the sidewalk (I mean, who else gets up at 6:15 on the day after Christmas?). We bundled up in our snowsuits and had a jolly time tramping through the powder, watching Dean run around like a ninny. I think he has a different gear that he reserves for bunnies and fresh powder, and the gleeful expression on his face would make you swear he's a heli-skiier. He also likes to eat snowballs, which is good, because Jack and I like to throw them, and we make a good team.



We also got to build a snowman, which despite the protests of some other household inhabitants, I insisted we do before Sunday was over, even if that meant suiting up at 5pm to catch the last half-hour of light. It took some cajoling to get Jack out the door, but once he was out in the snow he didn't want to come in. All in all, we are one goulish snowman and several great snowdays richer this Christmas.

 

Dean, Ghost Dog of the North