Much Ablog About Nothing

After many helpful hints from my dad as to the date of my last post (August 29th), I am returning to give you a quick update on our progress here. What I want to tell you is exciting and, for me, shocking ... I am pregnant!

Ha ha, no ...

That was really mean. Sorry, Dad.

What I want to tell you is that we are all GETTING OLDER! You may think that is an obvious thing that would have occurred to me many years ago when I began getting wrinkly (but I was told I could blame the sun! Damn that sun!). But only through totally zenned out eyes of never-ending motherhood have I noticed aging. Sure, I am getting older ... we all know that ... but what I am talking about more specifically is CHILDREN ARE GETTING OLDER. Yep. That is the revelation that has brought me back from many silent months to reconnect with you, my readers, if any of you are still "around" ... hee hee

But yes, Claire is getting older and ditto for the other two whatshernames. It is a sad commentary that I have been using this knowledge for a week or two now to get through trying times when I just want to hit everyone in sight. I think about it as I drive Claire to school, calm in spite of her pure contraryness. She is the most contrary little person! Uh uh you can't tell her 'NUTHIN (Kanye West).

I think about it as I wrestle with cherubic Ava as we decide who is going to dress her and in what clothes. I think, in my spiteful little mind "you will be THREE next year and I am shipping you off to school with Claire! Three days a week for three hours per day, you will be GONE ... got that, sweetheart? And you are not wearing that shirt again".

I even think of it as I dress Harriette. Harriette is a sweet little baby, but my mind still wanders off to her aging as I change those stinky little diapers. I think "oh you sweet little baby ... before I know it, you will be gone! And in your place will be a cranky toddler and then a sullen teen!"

And so it appears that my triumph over time, which so often seems to "crawl by like a wounded animal" (siouxsie and the banshees), is in its passing. Claire is no longer a toddler, but a little girl. My lovely little baby with the big brown eyes with eyelashes like a push broom is now a lovely little girl. I devote lots of brain power to important revelations like "if I had to describe Claire with one word, what would it be?" I used to invite John to share this fun but he made it clear he has no use for it, with his mind being tied up with so many important things. "Vibrant" is the word I choose for Claire. Ava is harder, with her strong will, steely temper, and harder to capture affection ... the best I have for her is maybe "adorable" which I know sounds like such a clique for a mother to pronounce her two year old. But really ... she clumps around the house on stubby legs clinging to an ever varying collection of stuffed animals. Her smile swallows her eyes in a mound of plump cheeks and her tantrums are legendary but rare. When I cross Ava, if we happen to be out, we have to go home ... there is no negotiating or reasoning with her. She has a soft little voice but seems to be forced into frequent yelling to survive in a world of Claire. And she is getting older.

Harriette is still largely unknown. I do feel she is especially gifted at being a baby. It makes me nervous about the future. If she is "in her groove" at three months old, what does the future hold?? Well, one thing we know for certain, it holds AGING!