spring

It certainly seems to be spring around here. The sun is up when I leave for work (for this week anyway), weather in the 60s, sunshine, our daffodils are in bloom, and my students have spring fever. It is beautiful and, mostly, I love it. It makes me hopeful. But it also makes me sad. In my mind Gramma Rosalie embodied springtime, and this is my first without her. Maybe it was the tulip festival in Pella she and Grampa Earl took us to when we were little, or Dayton's flower show every spring, or picnics at the arboretum. Maybe it was the way she decorated and gardened that made the newness of spring last all year. But springtime filled her personality too. She was cheerful and bright and full of warmth, her smile could melt anything and she brought sunshine and laughter to all situations, however grave. So picking the first daffodils of the year made me smile, but it also made me cry. I'm thinking of you often and I miss you Gramma!!

unfun in the kitchen

It has recently come to my attention that I can no longer put off reorganizing my kitchen. I have taken a pretty laissez faire attitude toward baby-proofing thus far- once Jonathan started showing keen interest in electrical outlets and cords, we moved lamps and put in the outlet covers. A few weeks ago he started opening drawers and so the tupperware moved to the bottom.

But now he has started opening cabinets- mostly just to hear the bang when he slams them closed again. But it won't be long until he discovers that he can climb in and clear their contents onto the floor like a little human swath of destruction. He does this with the bottom layer of our coffee table- crawls up onto the shelf, spreads his arms and then scoots himself from one end to the other pushing everything onto the floor in 2 seconds flat. So I need to move some key items (the blender and food processor come to mind) from the bottom shelf to higher ground. The trouble is that all of the upper shelves are filled with things like wine glasses, glass bowls, and cast iron pans. I think this project will involve a lot of hard decisions about getting rid of things we never use (perhaps the 2 teapots or the waffle iron that have been used once each since we were married or maybe one of my 3 coffee pots) and massive amount of reorganization. Grrr, I am NOT looking forward to this project.

bottle these moments

One of my favorite things lately is the half an hour before bedtime. I give Jonathan a bottle and hold him while he eats, I give him his bath, and then we go upstairs for PJs a bedtime story, a lullaby and sleep. When he is tired and knows bed is coming he is so cuddly and peaceful while he eats (not so much during the day) and I just love it. I sit there and relish this time. He is getting so big so fast; I wish I could find a way to bottle moments like this because I know I won't be able to remember the exact way he curls his chubby little toes up when he is happy, or the softness of his skin, or the precise sound of his laughter in the bathtub. How do you hold on to perfect memories like these?

stacking

Jonathan has set of plush stacking rings that have recently become his favorite. We were playing with them a few days ago and for fun, I put one on top of my head. Jonathan thought it was hilarious- he laughed and climbed up to stand on my lap and pull it off, giggling the entire time. Today I was sitting on the floor sorta zoning out while he was chasing his toy truck around until he started trying to put coasters on my head. One by one he would crawl to the coffee table, pull up, take a coaster off, crawl back to me, and attempt to put it on top of my head. As soon as it would slide off, he would laugh and crawl back to get another coaster. He went through all 6 of them. Baby laughter is the best thing in the world; I love being a mom.