Touching the bottom

Today Pa was in the swimming pool, and Lanie wanted to join him. Pa told her that she needed to put on her arm floaties because the pool was deep and she couldn't touch the bottom. Confused, Lanie reached behind her and, grabbing her backside, responded, "I can touch my bottom, Pa!"

I caught a fish this big...

Josh, Henry, and Lanie are in the Ozarks on vacation while I'm in Quincy resting up for the impending arrival of the latest addition to our family. I've been getting daily reports on the kids' activities, mostly from Josh, Pa, and other family members since my children are way to busy to talk to mommy. However, Henry did take the time today to correct Pa's account of the day's events. Pa told me over the phone that Henry had gone fishing and caught three bluegill. Apparently Pa's description was lacking because I heard Henry in the background shouting, "No! I caught three BIIIIIGGGGG bluegill!" No photographic evidence of the size of the bluegill exists, but I've asked Henry to draw me a picture of the fish so that I might have some idea of the whale-like proportions of his catch.

What's Heaven Like?

Oma (what the kids call my mom) picked Henry up after preschool one day and the two of them happened to drive by a cemetery. Henry asked Oma about the cemetery, which led to a lengthy discussion about death and Heaven. Oma concluded by explaining that after people die, they go to Heaven, which is a wonderful place where they can do whatever they want. Henry responded, "Oh, so there are no Moms or Dads there?"

Marrying Mommy

After months and months of intense planning and anxiously awaiting the big day, Aunt Laura got married last weekend. The wedding ceremony was sweet and special, and the reception was a fabulous party. Lanie especially enjoyed dancing with cousin Evie in their coordinating seersucker dresses that twirled around them when they spun around. The whole affair must have made quite an impression on Lanie. Exactly a week after the wedding, Lanie came over to me and said, "I want to marry you, mommy...in a big dress." I'm not sure who the "big" dress was for - Lanie, who was enamored of Aunt Laura's gorgeous gown, or me, who at eight-and-a-half months pregnant would need a really big dress.

About Ingrid

Not much to say, yet. Ingrid's due date is July 14. We're pretty sure she's a girl...I've redone the nursery in lavender, so if Ingrid is a boy, I hope he likes purple. Ingrid was accommodating enough to wait to be born until after Aunt Laura's wedding; I hope that means she'll be just as patient when she's born! Henry, daddy, and I are looking forward to meeting the newest addition to our family. Lanie is yet to be convinced this a good idea.

About Lanie

Elena, or Lanie, as we call her, is two-and-a-half. Like her brother, she is very smart, very sweet, and just gorgeous, but the similarities pretty much end there. Lanie slept all the time for the first three months of her life. Since then, she has not stopped moving. She is outgoing and very expressive. My sisters joke that Lanie has one volume - loud. Now that Henry has decided he's too old to kiss his mommy anymore, I am lucky I have Lanie. She puckers up constantly and showers affection on me, daddy, and even on Henry - except when she's sitting on his head! Lanie's great passion these days is her collection of baby dolls. Baby Lucy is her favorite, but she also has Baby Celia and Baby Jesus (who is a girl, by the way) in addition to other unnamed dolls. Lanie's devotion as a mother puts me to shame. Lanie has at least two dollies with her at all times, including at the grocery store and in church. Her babies have to be buckled in when we ride the in car, they have to be fed at lunchtime, they must have new outfits put on them every 15 minutes or so, and they like to take walks in their stroller. Lanie is an enthusiastic dancer and is very "girlie." She likes having her curly hair styled, and she chooses dresses over pants or shorts whenever she's given the option. When she was an infant, I started calling her "sunsine." I think it remains an opt description today.

About Henry

At the time I am writing this, my son, Henry, is four-and-a-half. Henry has always been a sweet, cautious, sensitive, and - if I say so myself - extraordinarily bright little boy. He recently completed his first year of preschool, which was a period of enormous change for him. When I talked with him last summer about his impending enrollment in school, he assured me there was no way he was going. Over the course of the school year, however, his teacher reported that he really opened up. I, too, have seen his confidence grow: now he likes to play with other kids, instead of watching from the sidelines, and he usually responds with enthusiam when adults ask him a question, instead of hiding behind my legs. Of course, he still tells me that he is going to live with me and daddy forever...that sounds okay to me. Henry is concerned about the people around him. He is very helpful with his little sister, Lanie, and he calls his cousin, Isaac, his "pal," even though Ike is more than three years younger. Henry's advanced vocabulary is a bit of a mystery: I have never heard such sophisticated words come out of such a little mouth and I'm not quite sure how he manages to remember them, much less use them in the correct context. I could go on and on about my beautiful, special boy, but I'll just end my noting the thing that really makes my heart just ache with love for him - his amazing smile.