Grandpa Les Meets Owen for the First Time, Easter 2005
Grandma Lorraine Meets Kyle for the First Time, Easter 2005
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These photos are of my grandparents, Kyle and Owen’s great-grandparents. We don’t see them often, but we just saw them this past weekend for Easter. Lately they have been calling me on the phone a lot. They call to ask about Kyle and Owen and to thank me for little care packages that I send in the mail to them. Every single time that I talk with them on the phone my grandmother tells me how much she loves “the twins,” how much she loves what we’ve “done” for “those two little boys,” and how much she thinks that it is “wonderful” that I have both “career and family.” She often mentions how a big career was truly not possible for women of her generation. She usually ends our phone call by telling me that she thinks “the twins” are “very lucky little fellas.” These are all her words, not mine. My grandfather simply thanks me profusely for the care packages (which always include at least one drawing or craft project made by Kyle and/or Owen), and he always tells me how much he likes looking at the things “those two little fellas” have made. Each time I see my grandparents, or get off the phone with them, I am just so struck by how amazing their capacity to accept/appreciate has been. Of course people are not perfect — not even close. But for my grandparents to be able to accept (and even more: appreciate) me and my family for who we are, especially given the obvious huge generation gaps, is such a testament to some of the good parts of human living. I love these photos above because they each are so beautiful and express so much. I won’t even begin to articulate all the reasons why these photos are so beautiful, and I won’t even begin to articulate all the ways that these photos express so much. Read between the lines. Love is not everywhere, but love is all around… even in some unexpected places. Happy Love Thursday.
Braydon is away this week on a “work trip” (this is what the boys call it when either Braydon or I need to go away for work-related travel). He left Tuesday and he’ll be back on Friday. This morning both of the boys were looking for him when they each first woke up. I had to remind them that Braydon was away on a “work trip.” When Kyle woke up he seemed particularly disoriented/perturbed about the idea that Braydon was still not home. I said, “Remember, Kyle? Papi is away on a work trip. He’ll be home in two more sleeps.” After a few minutes of letting this sink in, Kyle said — quite matter-of-factly — “Yes! Papi is on a big work trip! My Papi is on a big work trip talkin’ to ‘da man!” I just couldn’t help it and I laughed out loud when he said it!!!
One week ago I posted about a little “dreadlock conversation” I had with Kyle (click here for that post). Today, almost exactly one week later I’m posting about a little “dreadlock conversation” I had with Owen this morning. One of the things that is interesting about parenting twins (well, at least one of the things that is interesting about parenting our twins) is how close they are so often in terms of their individual development. Within one week’s time both K & O have talked about their own dreadlocks (using the actual word dreadlocks) for the first time.
Background Info — Last week I got a pair of new Dansko clogs for spring. The clogs are blue. Today I’m wearing the clogs. This morning Owen woke up first (he usually does), and I was cuddling with him on the couch in the playroom while he drank his beloved warm milk. Owen chugs milk — always has. He chugs down the entire full 9 ounce sippy cup of milk in one fell swoop without ever taking his lips off the sippy cup spout. Then, as soon as he’s taken the last gulp, he hands it to you and says, “I want more warm milk please?!” Lately, he has slightly modified his request — When he’s done with his first sippy cup full, he says, “I want FIVE more warm milks please?! FIVE. Not one more. Five more pppllllleeaaasse?!” Anyway… I diverge… So, we’re sitting on the couch cuddling and he is about 2/3 of the way through his first sippy cup full of milk. Suddenly, in a totally uncharacteristic moment (he normally never stops drinking the milk until it is entirely gone), he pulls the sippy cup spout out of his mouth, leans forward, points to my shoes, and says~~~
Owen: Mommy, I love your shoes! Heather: Thank you Owen! O: Mommy, I love your new blue shoes! They are so pretty! H: Oh, thank you Owen! That’s so nice! Thank you! O: And I love your pants! H: Thanks Owen! O: You’re welcome. H: Owen, I want to tell you something. I love your hair! It looks so good today. O: Oh. Thank you. H: I think your hair is beautiful. O: [looking me right in the eye now] Yes, it is beautiful. My hair is beautiful. H: Yes, it is! O: Mommy, it is my dreadlocks. My dreadlocks are so beautiful. H: Yes! Your dreadlocks! You have beautiful dreadlocks. O: [pointing to his hair] Yes, I love these dreadlocks.
Then Owen picked up his milk, chugged the rest of it down, handed me the cup and said: “Mommy, more milk please? I want FIVE more warm milks please?! FIVE! Not one more. Five more pppllllleeaaasse?!”
The family from the “Leave it to Avery” and “Burakaeyae” blogs have finally come home with their two beautiful kids from Ethiopia. They’ve posted a family video documenting their adoption journey. I cried watching it. Check it out if you’re interested — but grab a tissue first! (click here for the video)
Tonight we ate dinner at 6:30, like we usually do. Usually after dinner the boys play for awhile before it is time to go upstairs for bed around 8:00. This after-dinner-playtime seems to be one of Kyle’s absolute favorite parts of the day. Tonight, however he did something 100% unheard of. This has never, ever, ever before happened in our household — never ever. The boys had just finished their dinner and had just begun playing. They were blowing bubbles (one of their absolute favorite things to do) with their new Dora and Diego bubble buckets that the Easter Bunny brought (definitely their favorite of all the things The Bunny left in their baskets). At exactly 7:10 Kyle put down his bubble wand, walked over to me, crawled up into my lap, and said: “Mommy, it’s time to go upstairs and read books. It’s time for night night. I’m tired.” Braydon and I looked at each other in complete shock. Braydon was literally speechless. With wide gaping eyes I looked skeptically at my child. I said, “Kyle, you want to go to bed now?” He cuddled up close, shoved his thumb in his mouth, started sucking it vigorously, and said: “Yes, I’m ready for bed now. Let’s go upstairs.” I immediately took him up, Braydon followed a couple of minutes later with Owen — who did not protest this early – to – bed anomaly in the least, and both went down without even the tiniest hint of protest. Our boy asked to go to bed. This is a First. A big First. A big First to be noted.
We spent Friday – Sunday at Bement Camp (click here) in Charlton, Massachusetts. My parents had made all the arrangements and they couldn’t have found a better set-up for us all! “Jones Pond” is at the center of the camp, and our lodge with big windows and porches was sitting right at the edge. We all loved it! Especially Kyle and Owen, who — of course — spent a large chunk of Easter Weekend throwing rocks and sticks into the water. It was a long drive (5 hours each way), but the boys are getting much easier to road-trip with, and the weekend was well worth the drive! We got to spend time with our Johnson-side-of-the-family, there was lots to explore at the camp, and the Easter Bunny had no problem finding us in Massachusetts. Highlights for Kyle and Owen were (note: when asked what their favorite parts of the weekend were, these are the things they say): “two waterfalls!” (two small water outlets where the pond water runs into a stream), “the woods!” (lots of woods to walk in and paths to explore), “troll bridges!” (wooden bridges in and around the woods/pond), “bunk beds!–don’t bunk your head!” (some of us got to sleep in bunk beds in the camp lodge), “presents!” (from MorMor of course), “MorFar up high!” (Kyle loved having my dad swing him “way up high in the sky”), “Auntie Stina!” (Owen truly adores my sister), “firewood! and biiiiig fire! and hot in there! and we caaaan’t get owie burn!” (the boys got to help MorFar bring in the firewood and they loved having a fire burning in the center fireplace), “egg hunt!” (no explanation necessary…), and finally… “Church!” (it should be noted that only Kyle says church was his favorite, for Owen church was not a highlight!). Highlights for Braydon and I were: on Saturday night we got to drink some really good wine that my dad brought, we got more sleep each of our two nights at Bement Camp than we’ve had in many weeks (seriously– we each slept around eight hours each night!!!!!!!), we got to catch up with extended family who we don’t see often (except for me and one other cousin, everyone in my entire extended family lives in New England), I didn’t have to cook at all for the entire weekend, Braydon got to smoke two Cuban cigars with Tim and my dad, we got to see our boys fully engaged with their larger family — and lovin‘ every minute of it, and we got to see our boys enjoy Easter as only 2-year-olds-about-to-be-three-year-olds can. More photos to be posted soon… because of course we took hundreds of ’em. ;0
Grandpa Les Watches Kyle & Owen Play, Easter 2007
Grandma Lorraine Watches Kyle & Owen Play, Easter 2007 
Grandpa Les Meets Owen for the First Time, Easter 2005
Grandma Lorraine Meets Kyle for the First Time, Easter 2005
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