As your Mom, and someone who enjoys writing, the task of capturing the moments of our life as a family is still daunting from time to time. I wrote about your first day of Kindy, Eli. Many days have passed since then. So many, in fact, that you have less than one month remaining as a Kindergartener. Whhhaaaaaa? And yet, it is as true as spring is lovely. The days they have been a-passin'. And there is simultaneously so much to say and so little, because my heart knows it all. The thing is that while a certain moment/sigh/song/slice of light may, and does, trip my memory of life with a littler Eli or Celia, I want other ways to call this up. This life right now and how it feels to live it.
My Althea was mentioning her mom's wish to hand new parents 'freeze powder.' And oh, how I'd line up for some. And then I would get to sprinkling. Eli's love is so big. For that sister of his, for his dad (who he proclaims at least once a day to be the best guy ever) and for me. For his friends. For his neighbors. Really, for all he can see or just hopes really hard to see one day. He worries about the animals' that have captured his imagination. He worries about liter in the sea. He rejoices at the faintest suggestion of a bud on the little apple tree in front. He loves being read to - endlessly still. In our years together he has never asked me to stop reading and I have tried to outlast him many, many times. He likes reading to himself too, more and more. The world, for Eli, is really a marvelous place full of good times to be had. I love that about him. For explorations of any kind, he's the guy. He is incredibly observant, he asks good and simple questions that get to the heart of the matter and he just loves to have fun. He loves dressing up and imagining surroundings that we have to prepare for by getting the right tools (Eli is a big believer in the right tool for the job) or the right dress. He loves soccer (in theory anyway) and is smitten with team Brazil because, and only because, he has a Brazil jersey. He has since been introduced to Pele so his love runs a bit deeper now. He loves Mexican food. Non-fiction books about animals are still his favorite. He loves the art cart and duct tape and scissors and dreaming up creations involving all three. He learned to ride his bike and he is gooood. His hair still hangs in a little mop right in the middle of his forehead. (May it always be so. Amen.) Eli and Celia were in Celia's room in the wee hours of some morning recently and I caught some of their conversation that was poignant and made my bones ache a little bit. They were talking about their superhero names and decided that their joint name could be ELIA!! ahhhhh, one of the benefits of naming your children in such a way that your first child's name is right in the middle of your second child's name. But ELIA!! I thought was really good:) Then, in a dramatic change of topic, Eli was telling Celia that everyone dies someday. She was quiet for a few moments and then a sobbing sound came from the room with a little voice proclaiming, "But then I'd want another Eli!" Ohh, little sister. Me too.
My Celia. Can words catch you and pin you down? I think not. I can try... I can try. Your hair, twinkly and many a shade of brown, has a lovely weight and fullness that I cannot get enough of. Your brown eyes are full of fun. When you laugh your nose wrinkles up right in the middle and I can tell the extent of your delight by looking at that joyful crease. You have a chicken pox scar just to the right of your right eye -- it is just a teeny tiny spot that reflects the light differently and, for some reason, I find it unspeakably lovely. You wake in the morning very, very hungry because (I guess) breakfast it the only meal that you reliably eat. You like milk. A lot. You like things made from milk. A lot. Sometimes you like nothing else. Oh wait, you always like candy and chocolate. Your desire for candy and chocolate has made you a little manical at times. Just sayin'. I watched you grow oh-so-much-bigger at toddler time this year; it was great fun. You really enjoyed your time with Diana and Patrice too. By the end of the year we just had TT with Patrice and it was a pretty magical experience for you. Joyful, compassionate and wonderful teachers have that affect, I do believe, and you certainly bloosomed under Patrice's encouraing eye. You and Sylvie have been taking some dance classes since this winter and the sight of you two in tights/leotards and skirts is honestly a bit too much for me. I can't take the sweet. It has been great fun to watch you enjoy yourself moving, dancing, running and leaping. You are a wonderful help and will find my side in whatever I'm doing or we are doing together. You love to measure and mix ingredients, load the dishwasher, help me put in the laundry, tend to the plants, feed the dog. etc. And your presence, Celia, is exquisite (says your Mama.) You yell and scream and demand your paci and binky and cry hot tears. You laugh and run and hide and invite play. You make a wide circle of awesomeness around you and invite your favorite people into the fold.
I am so looking forward to a summer full of lazy afternoons, lemonade, bike rides, raspberry faces, duct-taped creations and hanging out together. Because hanging out together is the best.
Love, Mama
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