2 years as what I consider to be "the mom I want to be"...the kidlets and I spent Memorial Day pretty much at the pool. We have sunburn and more chlorine than I thought possible, but we are having fun!

It's amazing to me that I can let Jake go at the pool. He has friends, he can swim like a fish and he doesn't need me to watch his every step. This is an amazing step forward in my life as a mother. Of course, Phoebe still NEEDS me (as she reminds me constantly), but even she has friends and can be in the baby pool without me being 6 inches from her. I can chat or even (heaven help me) read an article!

The growing up process is so amazing for me. Maybe because I didn't grow up yet? I still feel young. Is it because I have young kids and am teaching college students? Am I just a young-thinking person?

Don't get me wrong--I'm old. Sometimes I feel it. Most times, I don't. This week I'm attending a faculty workshop to make myself better at using technology in the classroom to keep on top of what I do... and what I want to do.

This IS my mid-life "crisis". Making changes in my life... mom, professor. Happy.

Bike Whiz!

Thank the good Lord that Jake inherited Daddy's agility genes. Last Saturday, we took the training wheels off his bike. On Sunday he was riding through the woods,and we ordered a new bike because the one he had was too small. Every night this week he has ridden his bike--yesterday the new one arrived.
Jake and Daddy went to a local bike trail--and spent half an hour biking and even going to visit a friend!
The kid rides better than I do. *sigh* Phoebe is a madwoman on her tricycle--and when we paint Jake's bike pink--watch out! I have a feeling she will take to it too.

So it will just be Mommy falling behind.

Winter, Fun and...age

Not much snow this year so far--so when it finally snowed this weekend you KNOW the kidlets wanted to get out into it. And because I can't sit inside and see all the places they can go--out I went with them.
I can remember loving winter...tromping for hours in the snow, sledding and playing. Finally coming in to a nice fire and hot chocolate. Then I remembered that my mom made all that happen! So now that I'm the mom? Yeah, not as much fun to come in from the cold and do all that.
Today we played ice giants attack in the playset. I clambered up into it to hide from the rampaging giants... this after an hour of sledding, walking the dog and generally being outside. So once the ice giants had been vanquished a few times, I (and my cold behind) really wanted to go inside. After a great deal of whining (on my part) I convinced them to come in and warm up.

I'm so happy that we played together, and that their imaginations were so fired up! As I sit here and my cold bones defrost, though, I wish I was MORE fun. Could stay outside longer. Had more energy.

Age.

Ages and Stages

Jake is 7. Phoebe is 3-and-a-half. How did this happen? Well, yes, I know how it happens...time passes.

First slowly...oh so slowly in those first months of life. Would I ever get enough sleep? Would my body ever be fully mine again? Would my child stay alive if I did not personally attend every breath in his/her body?

Then a bit faster...back to work, rushing to get first one then the second to daycare, to work, home and fed and to bed. How did it go so fast?

Faster yet...walking and talking. Potty training, regular food, goodbye to the crib once and then twice.

Hey, where did the school bus come from? How did it turn my baby into a school-age child? And now the second one wants to get on the bus, go to school, begin her life.

And here I am...pausing briefly to look back as I still plunge headlong into the future. I can sit in another room as they play with each other, converse with each other, share inside jokes, love and some punches.

They grow up, and I grow older. In this moment I am looking ahead to our future. Where will we be 7 years from now? What adventures will they undertake--adventures that will take them ever farther from me? I know I will never again be as necessary to them as I have been. But I still hope and pray they will need me.As much as I need them. As much as I now realize I still need my mommy.

Swim Season 2011

My super swimmer Jake is going to be joined soon by sister swimmer Phoebe. A few days ago she decided she wanted to swim. Get her face wet, the whole works. A week ago if she got splashed, I think her screams of outrage could be heard in Timbuktu. But suddenly, she wants to swim. So she will.

She potty-trained much the same way. Decided one day to wear panties and hasn't looked back. So I have a strong-minded girl on my hands. Lucky me?

Jake had a great season as well. Mostly firsts and seconds in freestyle and backstroke. Time trials are this week, then maybe championships. So when did I turn into a swim mom? I am feeling very suburban. I'm not sure if I mean that in a good or bad way... I wasn't expecting this in my life for sure!

Jake starts first grade this fall, and I wonder where the time goes. In 2 years, Phoebe will go to kindergarten. My mind is being blown on a daily basis with their intelligence, awareness and general sense of what is funny. In the car the other day Phoebe was singing her own mash-up...Fight for your Right to Party and Dynamite. I don't know how she connected the Beastie Boys and Justin Bieber, but she did. An unholy alliance for sure!

Summer and swimming

I think I may have created a swimmer! Jake is in his second year on the Persimmon Creek Swim Team. And he's kicking butt and taking names in the 6 and under group! I may be just a wee bit too proud...but he's just doing so well. Firsts and seconds in the meets with his freestyle and backstroke. His intensity when he's swimming is amazing. It's so cool to have produced an athlete--given how non-athletic his parents are!
He has other talents--his reading and writing skills are in good shape--he's ready for first grade. We have to get him glasses, but that's OK.

Phoebe is just as wonderful--can't leave her too long without praise. Although she won't put her head in the water, she scoots around in her swim ring like a water baby. It's really wonderful! She's smart as a whip, and dare I say more advanced than Jake was at her age? I think his influence has helped her. She gets herself dressed and can figure out how to buckle and unbuckle her baby seat. Perhaps TOO smart sometimes...

Welcome back!

Goodness--it's been a year and a half since I blogged here. In the meantime, I changed jobs, the house STILL isn't done and the kidlets...well the kidlets have gotten older, cuter, smarter and BETTER.

It's been amazing, this ride. And the best part is that it's nowhere near over! So let's see--I left TV, but not really. Now I'm a college professor teaching broadcasting and journalism! I'm also the higher education blogger at RTDNA--where I used to be the PA state coordinator.

Jake is 6-and-a-half, Phoebe just turned 3. Three! Years! Old! My babies aren't, as evidenced by the insistence that I throw out the baby potty seat, the baby sippy cups...anything baby. But not the stroller.

Jake just finished kindergarten at West Park. Going to first grade in the fall. WOW. Phoebe is proud to be a preschooler (as she tells everyone she meets) but also yearning to ride the bus with Jake and go to "big" school.

Motherhood is turning out a LOT better than I thought.