Papoe

Holiday smiles

The Christmas spirit was alive and kicking all weekend. We are still unwinding and catching up on sleep. In the meantime, I give you: Holiday Smiles.

Happy holidays!

Dear Aja

Aja,

You are two years old. You have been two years old for almost a month but I’ve been struggling to say much more because there are not enough words to describe how we got from there to here. The day that you were born floats in my mind like someone else’s memory. I remember the first time that I visited you in the NICU and a nurse congratulated me. It felt so odd, as though if I were to say thank you it would mean that I was happy you arrived early. I’m still not happy you chose to make your mark in August rather than November, but I am the happiest woman in the world because you are mine. You are sour and sweet and stubborn and determined and happy and loving. You’ve made me slow down and pay attention to the small milestones—the first time you turned your head, your first full cackle of a laugh, and the first time I found your hand wrapped securely around a lock of Jocelyn’s hair (pulling like it was a game of tug-o-war). You are learning your words and you love to go through the list of family members whose photos adorn the wall. Mommy! Daddy! Jojo! Nana! And when I ask you who you are you say, “Ada.” It melts my heart.

You still love your Daddy, but you have a new found love for Mommy, which I appreciate most of the time. The fact that this stems from you not wanting me to hold Jocelyn or push her in the stroller is not lost on me. I know what you’re doing. When you are called and confronted with bad behavior—usually consisting of you hitting or biting your sister—you cock your head to the side, bat your eyes and say, “No!” Your cuteness will get you far in life but please remember to only use it for good.

I’m looking forward to this next year, when your gibberish transforms into sentences and I learn why you like to hold tutus but not wear them and whether you will play soccer just to be like your sister or if you’ll decide that you’d rather eat all the oranges on the sidelines. Either way, I’ll cheer you on.

I love you baby girl.

Mommy

Remembering

Ten years.

WrestleMania 2.0

Moments after my wedding ended and a few stragglers hung around in the reception area I was tackled to the ground by my brother. Restrained by the weight of my wedding dress, I fought to get my legs up and around his feet or waist or neck. Hoots and hollers echoed throughout the room when I managed to grasp onto his ear. This has always been my escape. A sharp twist and he practically goes limp. I’m left to either attack or retreat to my corner. I chose to retreat because that was the classier thing to do on my wedding day.

Unfortunately, the photographer had already left for the night and the amateur’s were too drunk or stunned to snap a photo.

 
This should have been a clue for what would happen at the end of the night

Which brings me to WrestleMania 2.0, Aja’s favorite new game. I’ve mentioned before that Aja loves to hug her sister, but she has now taken it to a whole new level. She starts from the middle of the room and runs to Jocelyn with her arms outstretched. Often, she catches her around the waist, but sometimes it may be the arm or leg if Jocelyn manages to sidestep her grasp. Aja holds on. And holds, and leans, and pushes, until Jocelyn is pushed to the ground.

But it doesn’t stop there.

She hangs on, despite Jocelyn’s cries or protests or swinging arms. She uses her head or her feet to hold her sister down. I imagine she’s waiting for me to count to ten and crown her the winner.

She is the Best Pest.

I always assumed that Jocelyn would be the aggressor, but she plays her prissy card when Aja really gets going.

I may have to teach her how to go for the ear.

Back when we broke our backs with a pound of biology

Recently I got nostalgic over textbooks. Spending hundreds of dollars on stacks of books that would need to be lugged from class to class, wearing holes in the bottom of my JanSport backpack. Some titles barely had one crack in the spine when I handed it back to be resold at the end of the semester. For $8.

Khary informed me that Amazon has come up with a service where you can rent textbooks. Rent? As in borrow for a finite amount of time? This is brilliant and absolutely unfair.

He took it one step further by stating the obvious. “You know the girls probably won’t even have textbooks by the time they are in high school. All the kids will have iPads.”

Blasphemy.

I need to go out and buy them each a Trapper Keeper and tell them what life used to be like and how hard it was…after walking two miles in the snow.

Yes, I grew up in Santa Cruz. It snowed there once.

Wait until they hear about how email didn’t even exist when I started college. Of course Jocelyn currently believes that email is what we check each day before walking in the house. She’s disappointed when the mailbox is empty and she has nothing to sort.

 

*

Giveaway winners! Two random winners of the $25 Safeway gift cards are:

“My father in law once suggested I let my sons (who were 2 and 3 at the time) play outside unsupervised. "Uh-huh. Sure...whatever you say, crazy old man". LOL.” Posted by mami2jcn

“When I was in labor, a shockingly unhelpful doctor (who was wearing regular clothes and whom I later accused of being a random onlooker) told me, mid-push, "relax your face!" Oh, okay, because it's the tension in my face that's the real problem here. Luckily, my little boy was tiny tiny (and early like Aja), so he pretty much slid out a minute later. Otherwise I might have hurled my IV pump at her.” Posted by Jennifer

I’ll be in touch by email.