 |
| Holding the leash while you walk the dog |
 |
| Beautiful smile! |
 |
| Crawling is a thing of the past |
 |
| My Dog Sunday |
 |
| Bears at Hoover Library! |
 |
| Swinging at Chace Lake |
 |
| My Bed in My Room |
 |
| Sunset (or is it sunrise?) at the Beach |
Things have been busy & I haven’t found the time to update
my blog recently. As I’m posting this morning I’ve thought about why I have a
blog about you. I don’t think it is supposed to be a log of what happens in your life. Rather
I think it is a way to share my unique perspective of thoughts about and
experiences with you. This time I chose pictures to try to illustrate a few of them.
It is a long post…but I’ll justify it since it’s been a long time since I
posted. First, whenever go out with Sunday, you want to hold the leash. It made
me laugh to see you doing the same thing with your Dad. Even though it’s not
really helping, you want to have some responsibility for the dog. Eventually
you’re going to be big enough to really help walk the dog (and lots of other
things!) and I think it’s important to not tell you “no” when you want to hold
the leash. I also like this picture because I think it’s wonderful you ride on your Dad's back! Your Mom
& Dad take you camping & to the beach & on hikes. You are going to
have a connection to “the great outdoors” that I never had. How awesome!
For a long time, because you were
so good at crawling quickly whereever you needed to go, you weren’t too
interested in walking. I think your official “first step” was Oct 28, but now
you’re confidently and consistently walking! Although you have more mobility
progress ahead (tricycle, bicycle, roller skates etc.) becoming biped is
clearly the most significant and monumental. You are now officially a “toddler”!
I chose the picture of your beautiful smile while sitting in your “food chair” not
only to show how beautiful you are, but how happy you are. Almost all of the
time you laugh & play & hug & smile and really enjoy life.
It is contagious. Happy times with you are the best part of my life! You see
joy in little things which adds so much joy to my life.
You & I have
gone to the Hoover Library several times. But the first time we went we
discovered your big bear who lives at your Dad’s mother’s house has a “secret
life” and a buddy at the library. You were so amazed! As we mature we become
aware the world exists when we’re not observing it. (There is a specific term
for that but I can’t remember it now). The next time we went to the library the
bears were busy holding decorations and couldn’t play with you. You were very
disappointed but adjusted pretty quickly. Maybe they can play next time! The
Hoover Library is a great place to visit. Although it doesn’t have a “merry-go-round”
like the mall, neither does it have the many distractions of the mall! And it
has books & puzzles & puppets & a great outdoor play area and other
children. You really really like other children! What a joy to watch you
interact and play with other children!
The swing at Chace Lake is such a
special place. Not only do you love to swing (so did your mother and so did
I!) it is a place where we talk about birds & trees & leaves &
airplanes etc. Recently we visit the decorations at the house across the
street. Last year I carried you in my arms to see them (we now have an “annual
tradition”!) There is a giant inflatable Santa & a snowman and your
favorite…Snoopy on a mail box with Woodstock the yellow bird inside. I won’t
even try to explain my life-long love of the Peanuts characters! The biggest
driver of my desire to learn to read was to be able to read the newspaper
cartoons to myself. When I was in college my mother mailed me the Peanuts
cartoons so I could keep up with what was going on with Snoopy and the others.
They’re still in a box in the attic! And I have MANY Peanuts books!
I love to watch your joy when you have a
chance to be with your dog Sunday. You don’t realize Sunday doesn’t really like
you very much. She is happy you drop so much food on the floor for her to eat.
But otherwise she isn’t happy you joined the family. However, you don’t know that!
Or if you do, you love her any way. We all have people in our lives who don’t
really care about us. We have to “let go” of some of them, but just like you
love Sunday, there are some we love any way & find joy in our imperfect relationship
with them. And sometimes we are delightfully unaware they don’t really like us!
I’m sure there are a lot of those people in my life but “ignorance is bliss”
sometimes!
The amazingly beautiful picture of you at the beach was taken on a
fall trip to the beach with your parents & another family. I grew up in
Mobile and the beach was an important part of my life. My grandmother McMillan
had a house at Dauphin Island and I had happy times there with my cousins and
the grandmother we called “Bobo”. My family spent a wonderful week at Gulf
Shores for many years. I always took one friend & I had a freedom there I
didn’t have elsewhere. There is something wonderful about the place where the
sky & water & beach come together.
I love the picture of you looking at the sunset (or is it sunrise; does
it matter? Maybe I’ll get to go to the beach with you every summer! And one day take you & your friends?
Finally the
picture of you in your bed marks your height & illustrates how you wake up
happy. I love to get you out of bed in the morning or after your nap because
you are always so happy! Sleep is such a wonderful refreshing part of life. And
greeting the day with joy is awesome. Because your parents have a monitor in your
room we can hear and see you at times you think you’re alone! The night of Dec
5 one of your parents “tweeted” you said “Elmo” in your sleep. It delighted me
to think you must have been dreaming about Elmo! Stuffed animals were a
comforting and loving part of my childhood. I still have some of my favorites
but when my parents moved from my childhood home they got rid of a lot of them!
I am looking forward to sharing Sesame Street characters like precious Elmo
with you. They didn’t exist when I was a child but I had Yogi Bear &
Huckleberry Hound etc. I’ll still have a few of them! I hope you have wonderful
dreams about your real & imaginary world. I loved my baby bed and had no
desire to get out of it. It was a cozy place to be. Please don’t think this
post is trying to affirm you are like me. You are Lyla & have many many “Lyla-specific” traits.
You may reject your crib next week! But my childhood memories and memories of mothering your mom help me connect to you. I realize you are making memories
already which you may share one day with your grandchild! I hope you tell them
about me!
It is such a joy to spend time with you at least one or two
days a week. I love you & I’m looking forward to sharing many things with
you in the future!
