28 days have slipped away, and I've yet to document any of February. Our month of love looked suspiciously like a month of study, stress, and sickness, but we've felt tremendously blessed too. I am temped to list our highs and lows, but life just isn't that clear cut. Some of what has been hard we are really grateful for or have had a lot of fun laughing about. So here's a synopsis instead:
Andrew takes boards March 18th and 19th, so he has been in constant study mode. I am taking a pretty work intensive organizational ethics course, which means our child free time together is almost exclusively spent in the company of our books, notes and computers. Speaking of which...Preston broke our laptop a few weeks ago so Andrew and I have been sharing his little notebook which is old and slow, but does the job. Our day of rest has become something we've really grown to appreciate and use, and we look forward all week to our relaxing Sunday ritual of folding laundry and watching Downton Abbey.
Asher is loving preschool and his Sunbeam class at church. I love peeking through the windows into his class and seeing him engage with others. Although he is aware I am not around and may act differently...a few days ago, he told me, "I said 'butt' at school today because you weren't there." Not in a menacing way, just innocently informing me of the facts.
Asher wants to chase and play pretend at home all the time, and in the past week alone, has played the roles of Mike Wyzowski, Dusty Crophopper, Gru, or "Deskipable Me," "a bad giant", a bus driver, Superman, Batman, a polar bear at the zoo, a cat, a daddy, a delivery man, the list goes on. When he watches movies, he takes on the role of the title character and imitates their every movement, and memorizes their lines. When the need to be Asher arises, he performs a Beauty and the Beast-like transformation, hand by hand, foot by foot, then says, "Look - I turned back into your little boy!" Like I told Andrew, I think we have a lot of school plays in our future. Andrew is thrilled - bringing up a show boy has always been his greatest dream.
Preston started the month as a giant stinker, but has seemed to improve over the last couple weeks. When I say stinker, I mean hitting, biting, pooping his pants 6 times a day, head butting, fit throwing, spitting out half chewed food on the floor, tearing tissues into 300 tiny pieces, emptying utensil drawers, dropping tooth brushes in the toilet, etc., etc., etc. And I know so much of this is par for the course, but I really don't remember Asher being quite so stubborn. But I also don't know a sweeter, happier, more affectionate kid. He loves mama, but has a special place for daddy, and it melts my heart to hear him yell, "Dada!" when Andrew walks in the door.
This month was extra cold and snowy, so we embraced the art of the cozy snow day together. Here are some images of one from a couple weeks ago.
My sweet little superheros. These pictures remind me that I live in heaven.
Then our neighbor brought us a HUGE bunch of balloons for "Valentime's Day", as Asher calls it, and the kids had a blast playing with them the rest of the night.
When we did venture out this month, we went to the library, Target, mall and Chic Fil A play places, play dates and cookie decorating with friends. Mommy enjoyed her basketball games, Young Women's activities, and a fun Valentine's Exchange with friends. I also began watching a few kids for a great family, and the extra income has been nice.
We were so excited for Andrew last week when he won the Ohio State School of Optometry Student Bowl! He was one of three nominees who competed in front of the students and faculty, and he performed exceptionally well. Who would have guessed that boy knew a lot of eye trivia? He will now get to represent OSU at the national bowl in Philadelphia this June. So proud.
This season of life is a busy one, and there is a lot we wish we had time for. I'm not going to lie, entertainment is one of those things. 1 hour a week of mindless TV watching together is not enough for me! There are also a couple books I'd like to read with Andrew before the movies come out (The Monuments Men and Unbroken). Since this is a lean phase of life, it's not like we could really go out on the town much anyway, so school together kind of works. Still, looking ahead with eager anticipation to more real date nights in a year or two!
