Springy spring spring

Our days are growing longer (drove home at 10 last night and it was still "dusk"), the trees are a beautiful shade of new green, and we are spending hours and hours outside... it's not too warm (probably around 60 most of the time), but after the long, dark winter, it seriously doesn't matter. Spring makes me happy, so I wanted to share a happy video of Nick and his dad having a grand time.

Nicholas's obsession at the moment is with shoes -- shoes, shoes and more shoes. He is crazy-in-love with his shoes. One pair of shoes in particular are his favorite. He wakes up in the morning, comes downstairs, and the first thing he does is finds his shoes. Here you can see him (later in the day) conniving Lucas into putting them on for him. Isn't Lucas just a great big brother?


If these shoes aren't available, he'll put on any available pair -- which could be his own rain boots, or Steen's flip-flops or my gym shoes. Doesn't matter. Any shoes are better than no shoes, I guess.

In addition to his repetoire of girls' names (Alva and Amanda), Nick has started making animal sounds. He's made it to "dog", as you'll see in this clip. Note that here Matthew is showing off his excellent big-brother skills. He reads for Nicholas nearly every day.

I guess if we decide to own a cow with a girl's name at some point, he'll be able to let us know who he's talking about. Learning how to say other, perhaps more useful, words doesn't interest him... like "food", or "water", or "poopy diaper".... no no, that would be boring, mom!

His other new interest is yoga. Don't ask me where he got this from. Maybe Matt's in on the act?

On his own

My little boy isn't so little anymore.

Recently, Matthew had to meet his class for a field trip at a location that was outside the school. That morning, as we all jumped in the car, Matthew took a deep breath, looked at me from the passenger seat and said:

"Mom, can I go there on my own? It would be so embarassing if you insist on going there to drop me off..." He smiled sheepishly, blushing all the way to his ears, clearly embarassed by his own request.

I smiled, knowing this day had been coming for a long time. My little boy is becoming a young man. I wasn't upset by the request, but rather proud of the person he is turning into.

"Of course, hon. Here are the bus tickets", I said... and then, because I still need to know he's safe, I said "Call me when you get there!"

"Aw, mom", he said... but he did.