Over the past few weeks Meera Grace has suddenly bloomed into quite the little personality. From the start she’s always had blatantly apparent and noteworthy characteristics (most obvious was her calm and chill demeanor and her exceptionally “good baby” persona). But suddenly she’s gone from being a baby to being a toddler, and with that transformation her little Self (capital “S”) has really emerged. Turns out, she is such an interesting little kid. I’m not sure why, but this sort of surprises us. I guess when you adopt twin boys from a Haitian orphanage you sort of sign up for ‘interesting.’ But I guess we didn’t really expect ‘interesting’ when we were anticipating the arrival of our little biological bundle of joy. Not that we expected uninteresting… I think it was just more that we didn’t think all that much about what would make Meera, herself, unique.
Well, we’re beginning to fully see the uniqueness that is our daughter. At 14 months old our girl fills the room with her graceful presence (she makes everyone smile)… and… her strange little ways (she makes Braydon, Kyle, Owen, and I shake our heads and laugh out loud). I don’t really mean “strange” in a bad way, just “strange” in a strange way (I looked up “strange” in the dictionary before typing this, by the way,– it says, “unusual, extraordinary, or curious; odd.” And yes, that sort of sums it right up). Braydon and I regularly find ourselves kind of tilting our heads and saying, “Hmmm? How did she get like this?” And we’re really just kind of stunned by the cold hard reality that we now have three (not just two, but three) really strikingly strange little kids. I’m not sure why we’re so surprised. But we really are. And Braydon and I are feeling a little bit dumbfounded lately in our realization of this fact.
One little strange/noteworthy tidbit about Meera right now is this: She insists –and I mean insists— on wearing necklaces every moment that she is awake. She lets us take them off before putting her into her crib to sleep, but otherwise, she’s got necklaces on. I cannot emphasize how strange this is. I do not wear necklaces. Margie does not wear necklaces. Nobody she sees regularly wears necklaces. She’s not exposed to media, etc. with images of people wearing necklaces. We cannot, for the life of us, really figure out where this intense need to wear necklaces came from. The only thing that I can trace this back to (and really, this is a stretch, but it is all I’ve been able to come up with) is the 4th of July… (click here for post and check out the photo at the very top)… On the 4th of July we made 4th of July themed necklaces with Kyle, Owen, and Sadie and all of us wore them to the concert/fireworks that night. In my recollection, Meera’s interest in necklaces sort of started –gradually– right around then. It was definitely the first time that she wore a necklace. And over the past few weeks since then her interest has turned into full fledged obsession. She must be wearing necklaces at all times. She turns anything she can into a necklace. And she has definite preferences for certain necklaces over others. The first thing she does when she wakes up is look for her necklaces (which are left where we put them when we laid her down), and carefully choose which ones to put on. She puts them on herself (we’ve never put them on her). And she has little piles of necklaces all over the place that she puts on and takes off throughout the day. Some of these things are just pieces of string, others are old school projects of the boys’ (braided yarn “crowns” from last Halloween, etc.), others are elasticized hairbands of mine, and others are legitimate beaded necklaces that I’ve given her because she just loves necklaces so much. She wears them all, and she’s always wearing at least one (but usually several). We don’t mind her wearing the necklaces. We don’t really have any strong feelings about it one way or another, it is more that we’re just kind of taken aback by it. It definitely gives us pause… and… yes… gives anyone/everyone who encounters her pause. Margie thinks it is absolutely hysterical and says she’s never seen anything quite like this with a child so darn young. All I know is that it is strange. Very, very strange. Not in a bad way. Just in a strange way.
Since we returned from New Hampshire this whole necklace thing has really been full-blown. I knew I wanted to post about it, so, over the past three days I made a point to snap 3 random photos of our girl at random moments during the day. Here she is… in all her glory… Little Miss Diva.
Every time we get back from a trip it is striking to me how much the boys process it all by playing it all out over and over in every possible dimension. The motorboat (and all the boats on the lake) were a major part of our time in New Hampshire for them. Now, back at home, they are just playing playing playing about boats and ships and water and travel travel travel. Which almost always morphs into travel via planes… of course (this is K & O we are talking about). But in recent days it is always starting with them being “on a boat.” They always build the “boat” the same way– with blankets and pillows on the floor. And then it just takes off from there– in all sorts of directions. Recently they are repeatedly playing that they take the boat (which soon morphs into a ship which then morphs into a plane) to Paris France and then to Russia and then to China. From there, the sky’s the limit. They are globe-trotting all over the world. Owen is sometimes a pilot. Kyle is always a passenger. Whenever they can manage it, they get Meera on board too. Meera sometimes cooperates (especially if there are blueberries involved — “snacks! we need SNACKS for the TRIP!!!”). The motors to these boats-ships-planes are very loud. The design of the trip-taking-vehicles is very elaborate. The experience is very involved. Sometimes these trips last only a few minutes. Sometimes hours. And given that we’re still in the heyday of summer, there are currently very few restrictions on how long it lasts (we have, for example, a “ship” that has been in tact in our sunroom for the past four days). The world is their oyster.
We’ve been doing this trip every summer and it has become such a good tradition for us. (click here for last year) We look forward to it all year. We really do. This year, for the first time, we went for a full week. And could have easily stayed for two. And, also for the first time, we stayed at the lake (“MorMor and MorFar’s Cottage”) the entire week (as opposed to sleeping some of the nights at my parents’ house)… which was definitely the way to go. It was a spectacular week in New Hampshire. Lake Winnipesaukee was at its finest. We enjoyed every minute of it. And it was especially good to be able to be with my parents while my dad was still in the relatively early stages of his recovery from his prostate surgery. It was a special time.
We got back one week ago, but it has taken me forever to sort through the 500+ photos that we took while we were there. Some of the photos capture a little of the flavor of how great the trip was. But like always, they don’t even really do it justice.
Among many, this year’s highlights included:
- Meera’s first ‘real’ summer NH trip (last year doesn’t really count since she was only a few weeks old and pretty aloof!)… sharing it with her and seeing her LOVING IT as much as the rest of us was a major high.
- MorMor and MorFar’s brand new motorboat!!! While the boys weren’t riding on it (with Kyle spending countless hours fixated with watching the wake) they were hanging out on it docked.
- Sadie joined us for most of the week at the cottage and we (especially K & O) savor our time with her! We have been able to spend a lot of time with our niece this summer and we feel very blessed for that.
- The annual pilgrimage to Storyland! This year it was MorMor, me, and the “big kids” – Sadie, Kyle, and Owen. Unfortunately, we didn’t have a camera with us, so we have no shots from that fun day. But it was fun fun fun!
- A beautiful day in Maine for the J-M’s to visit Auntie Stina and Sadie at their house!
- K & O had one of their dreams come true — being able to do real, actual mowing, like with a real, actual lawnmower. MorFar can’t mow while recovering, so Braydon and the boys mowed for him. This was a serious treat for K & O.
- Waterskiing for the grown-ups for the first time in many years. Braydon was a superstar on the waterskiis. Heather and MorMor… not so much. The boys loved watching us try it, and they can’t wait to waterski themselves (we told them they have to wait until they are 8 years old to try).
- Re-connecting with Maria. Our special, special, special girl (who is now 20!?!!!??!!!). Braydon and I had her with us every-other-weekend for 6 years while we were in graduate school living in Boston (from the age of 5 to the age of 11). She’s now all beautiful and grown up and lovely and it was just so, so, so good to spend time together after many years (we hadn’t seen her since Christmas 2004).
- Red Sox… being in New England definitely is refreshing for our two little Red Sox fans (who normally are surrounded by Yankees and Phillies fans). They got to watch the Red Sox on t.v. with MorFar, they got to talk Red Sox with MorFar ’round the clock, they got to look at Red Sox baseball cards with MorFar, and everywhere we went they saw Red Sox things– which is very exciting. Also while there they got resupplied with Red Sox clothing, stickers, etc.
- Eating lobster and catching crayfish. The boys had lobster for the first time. Kyle wanted nothing to do with it. Owen couldn’t get enough of it. While kayaking one day, we found some snorkelers who had found crayfish in the lake. They gave one to the boys. Owen couldn’t hold it and play with it enough. Kyle could not be bothered with the thing. They both noticed the striking resemblance between crayfish and lobsters and didn’t quite know what to make of it all.
- Trips on the boat to get the mail in Alton Bay, to get ice cream in Wolfboro, to get morning pastries in Center Harbor, and to ride out to get up close to the “Ship Mount Washington D.C.” (!).
- A night out (dinner at Ellacoya), alone (!), for Mama and Papi— a rare and wonderful treat courtesy of the most trustworthy babysitters on the planet!–MorMor and MorFar!
- Lots of good playing
- Lots of good bonding
- Lots of good eating
Yes, it is a long drive… 8-10 hours depending on how it goes… (and we show no mercy in plodding along as fast as we can with as minimal interruption to the drive as possible). But don’t feel sorry for the three bambinos for even a second. They take their road trips in style… and they love every minute of it (seriously.)… Photo below exhibits their luxury (pizza and videos in the back seat somewhere deep into the drive!— they also have now come to fully realize -and maximize upon- the vast number of Dunkin’ Donuts throughout all of New Enland… many “chocolate frosted” and “pink frosted” donuts were consumed by two boys in the back seat).
Lots of pictures in the three posts below (click here, here, and here).
For the sake of my mom, and anyone else who might be crazy enough to want to look through a huge slew of our trip photos… you can click here to see them.
I’ve been slow to getting back to speed, but I will –I assure you– be posting tomorrow. I just have to say, though, that I’m still getting emails trickling in every day with more and more people telling me that they’ve donated for Medika Mamba in Haiti. Thank you to each and every one of you. The blog strike is over, but the giving continues. THANK YOU!
It was just brought to my attention that there was a typo in my email address in the “Blog Strike OVER” post below. Sorry for that! If you tried to email me and it didn’t work, this is why. I’ve corrected the typo. Please email me if you want to receive your artwork! (see post from 8/13).
On our own we wouldn’t make it a big deal, but with the bambinos… it is just
such a big deal. “Happy Birthday Papi!” was the first thing they each said when they woke up this morning, and “Happy Birthday Papi!” was the last thing they each said before they fell asleep tonight, and they must have each said it at least 25 times in between too. So, it is what it is:
A big deal. And it was a great one. The big 3-8- wowsas.
*
It started with yogurt for breakfast. Yogurt for breakfast
everywhere. This was really the only part of the festivities that Little Miss partook of. And, let me tell ya, this girl knows how to make
any eating experience a
festive experience. Since the birthday dinner surpassed her still-holding-strong-self-selected-bedtime of 6:30 p.m. sharp (like, asleep, in her crib, fully down by 6:30 p.m.), we opted for the b-day party to really be for the foursome instead of the whole party of five.
*
Late this afternoon there was The Wrapping. (wrapping = always
an experience with K & O).
*
This was the first year that I brought the boys shopping to pick out their own birthday presents for Papi. They got him a Curious George book (“his favorite time of the day is reading books before bed! and he loves Curious George!”); a Berenstein Bears book (“and he just loooooooooooves Berenstein Bears!!”); the new Indigo Girls CD (“and he really loves music!!!”); and chocolate (“after he opens it can we have some of it??!!!”). They—I-mean-
he—loved his gifts.
*
Braydon chose cheesecake with fresh strawberries for his “Birthday Cake.”
*
And, as has now become tradition, the boys helped him blow out the candles.
*
And the night ended with an impromptu sunset concert serenade on the deck. 2 songs were performed:
Taking the Long Way by the Dixie Chicks, and
Happy Birthday To You (a modern folk-funk fusion version that was definitely a
one-of-a-kind).
*
HAPPY BIRTHDAY PAPI!
We’re back!
Thank you Thank you Thank you Thank you Thank you Thank you Thank you Thank you
A lot of people have given for Medika Mamba! Thank you to over 130 of our blog readers who let us know that they GAVE!
Thank you!
For those of you who gave (or who might continue to, if you have not already), to claim your original artwork from the crazy-Artiste- J-M twin-brothers, you must email me your address so that we can send you the masterpieces!
hbj2 (at) lehigh (dot) edu
P.S. Remember those pathetic tomato plants that I talked about awhile ago? Well, miraculously they came around and produced a little abundance of tomatoes!!! Poetic, isn’t it?
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