Elias X 3 Years

back when we were living in Richmond

afterwards bele came along

off to the keys for family vacation

returning to the swing

G(lobal) P(ositioning) S(ophia)

Sophia would probably be happy if she could go to school year-round. she seems disappointed on days when she doesn't go to her school-run summer camp. today at summer camp, they're going swimmin', and one of the teachers told me they were going to attach a g.p.s. chip to sophia so they could keep track of her. (i think it was a joke.) sophia is extremely spritely when she gets to be doing exactly what she wants, and so full of an overabundance of exuberance that it is a dizzying pleasure to watch her. it is also really hard to keep up with her. i only asked the teacher that, if they are to install such a chip on her, we be allowed to take it home with us for other extra-curricular uses.
unrelated: the other day sophia came up to me with a thoughtful look on her face and said, "papa, how does my nose breath smell?"

Farm swing

We took our kids to a wonderful farm wedding yesterday and it struck me yet again how quickly and easily kids can become best friends. The uniting factor was a simple piece of rope tied to a tree over a hill which the kids took turns holding onto and falling off of, until the mystery man who led this troupe of kids on their swinging adventures tied a seat to the rope. This kicked things up a notch and got my heart beating a little faster as I watched my kids (sophia especially) fly at least twenty feet up in the air.

Sophia loves to swing and always has. Of all my kids she was the only one content in a baby swing for more than a couple of minutes. Even as a toddler I used to be able to garden with Phia sitting in the baby swing and Elias, Tristan and I would take turns walking over and pushing her really high only to let her swing herself back to a stop and wait for the next passersby. So I suppose I should not be surprised that the consensus is that Sophia loved swinging the most last night, she always has.

red-stained shirt

cybele is up and down, hot and cold, all or nothing, infuriating or lose-your-pants charming. for instance, i want her to enjoy a bowl of strawberries with me. we drop off the bigkids at camp and head downtown to the a-farmer's a-market. we get a couple-a quarts of the last berries of the season. among other things. we get home and i wash them, and she looks interested, maybe even enthusiastic. but i dont let her run around with the bowl, and i dont give her my coffee spoon to eat them with. so she scoffs and sneers at them. fine with me, whatever. i drink my coffee and absently eat a berry now and then. but when i set my spoon on the side of the bowl, she zooms to the table, convinced i have kowtowed to her demands, and commences to house every last berry, hand over fist, breathing only thru her nose, juice dribbling down her perfect chin, onto her hand-me-down pirate shirt from captain james via 'phia, and she glares at me when i try to take one to eat myself. then they are gone and we are both pleased.

Baby Bear

It has been close to forever since I last blogged. Since then, Elias turned 7, Sophia turned 5 and we bought a house. So it's not like we are just sitting here twiddling our thumbs. We have been busy, I swear.

Cybele is continuing to be a maniac child. Recently she was heard screaming and I found her covered in blood. She somehow managed to smash her little face, right by her eye, into the new slate hearth at our shiny new house. She had blood pouring down her face and I was certain that we were going to be taking our first emergency trip to the hospital. Ultimately, I calmed down applied pressure and bandaged her up. Good as new, except now we get those looks when we are out in public from all the self righteous people implying that we are either beating our toddler or neglecting her.

We are doing neither one of course and Cybele really is a darling she is just younger than she thinks she is. She wants so badly to be seven or even five like her big siblings. She hates her diaper and is trying to potty train herself and is able to escape all things baby, i.e. cribs, high chairs, sippy cups. It is endearing and exhausting but mostly it makes me sad that she is so eager to grow when I am so eager to keep her young.