Winnie the Pooh (and Tigger too)!

Isabelle loves many things but there is another category above love where really special things are.  That is where Winnie the Pooh, Tigger and the rest of her Hundred Acre Woods friends are placed. 

 In Isabelle’s room on a bench across from her bed, her “friends” retire there every evening so that at first morning’s light, she can greet them with wide smiles, waves and shouts of “Ttttta” and “Oooh”  Those are the beloved names of Tigger and Pooh.  Tigger and Pooh, Piglet and Roo have provided our little girl with lots of comfort and love and if you’d look at them it’s easy to see they’ve been the recipient of many a slobbery kisses and drool smeared hugs.  I don’t know exactly what it is about them but she LOVES them.

 After a morning greeting of cheery shouts and across the room waves, Isabelle walks over and reaches up without stretched arms, all while repeating their names over and over, begging to have them join her arms.  As her request is fulfilled, immediately one of them is shoved in her mouth while the other under her arm and off she goes to take them on her next adventure in our home.  Tigger, Pooh and Isabelle’s adventures have taken them to many a places, to Jack’s water and food dish, to the cooking pan cupboard, to the cabinet by the TV, to the bathroom tub and even to the garage.  Where ever Isabelle trots, Pooh and Tigger are not far behind.

 Several months ago my sister, Megan and Adam gave us a copy of the recently released “Winnie the Pooh” movie.  I have been waiting until Isabelle grew old enough to have an attention span long enough to watch it.  Recently I showed her the movie which then became another “friend’ to haul around the house and just last week, I decided it was time to pop the movie in and see what she would do.

I pulled in the kid’s chairs and set them up in front of the TV.  Next I placed Pooh and Tigger into the chair next to Isabelle and hit play on the DVD.  As the song started and the voices spoke, Pooh appeared on the screen and what followed next made happy tears flow down my cheek while my belly rolled with laughter that a silly old bear could bring so much happiness.

Watch for yourselves….

 

 

And while screams and shouts, pounding of the arms and waves of joy were present at the beginning, what continued throughout the movie was just the same.  It was truly amazing to see her turn to the TV, see her friend and scream, then turn to the chair next to her, grab her friend, smother them in kisses and turn back to the TV to see yet another friend.   And when Tigger came on and sang his bouncy bouncy bouncy song, Isabelle stood up and started bobbing up and town as her friend performed his song.

So precious.  I can’t think of another way to describe it.  Pure happiness, simple joys and love that has no boundaries.  That is how our little Belle looks at her friends.  As seeing just how happy she is to see her buddies, reminds me, to stop and look for the same simple pleasures in life.  For they really are all around us. 

Until next time,

Angie

 

 

Wordless Wednesday #3.... Big Mountains

Recently Gabriel was sent a letter from a pen-pal in first grade back in the Iowa town where Jarrett and I grew up.  I may or may not have a cousin who is the first grade teacher there and one of the boys in her class needed to send a letter to someone in Arizona. 

When Gabriel got the letter he was very excited and right away wanted to sit down and draw pictures about all the things his pen pal would see if they came to our great state. 

I watched quietly over his shoulder as he drew pictures of geckos, and snakes, cactus and swimming pools.  However when Gabriel drew this, I was not sure exactly what he was trying to draw....

When I asked him what the picture was of he said, "Duh Mom, its a picture of big mountains.  What did you think it was?"

Stumbling over my words, I finally was able to spit out...."That's what I thought Gabriel, just making sure."  as my internal voice told me to get my head out of the gutter.

Until next time,
angie

Best Buddies...

I’ve talked before about how I wondered how Michael would react to becoming a big brother. He was for all our “baby” for a whole 21 months before being booted to a new role of middle child. Jarrett and I were very careful with both boys about the transition when we welcomed Isabelle into our lives. And even though from the very beginning the boys wanted, asked, and even pleaded for a baby sister, we were mindful that to them that they felt just as important and loved as they were from day one. In talking with Michael about becoming a big brother, we stressed to him how he would now get a turn to be a leader, to be the role model, to be the helper that Gabriel had always been to him. Michael was now getting to be in that role with his little sister.

Watching Michael fall in love with his baby sister has made my swelling heart hurt inside my chest as it overflows with so much love. Michael has not only taken on his “role” with a lot of pride and ownership, but it is the other things he does to care for, to watch over, to protect that make me know he will always be there for his sister. Together Michael and Isabelle are best buddies. In those moments when Mom needs to prepare dinner, change the load of watch, etc, Michael is the first one to volunteer, “I can play with Isabelle Mom” even though I’m only a room a way. It is when Michael stands behind, on the side, even in front of Isabelle as she learns how to take her first steps. He doesn’t mind being the human pillow to catch her wobbly stumbles. It’s the moments when he tries to teach her how to give kisses and instead ends up with a huge bite mark on his nose. He didn’t even complain even though he said, “Mom the kids at school will probably laugh at my nose since it looks funny from Isabelle’s bite.” And it’s the weekend morning moments when the house is all quiet as Isabelle sleeps, that he walks up to my side and whispers, “Mom- when is Isabelle going to wake up from nap? I want to play with her.” And that is how I know they are brother and sister. Not connected genetically by the cells in their body but connected by so much more. Connected by heart-strings of love, of pure, wholesome love.

And it isn’t just Michael that is connected at the hip with his sister, this love street goes two ways. It is those moments as Isabelle catches a glimpse of her brother at the after school program and takes off racing as fast as she can to the other side of the room to greet him with outstretched arms. It is the innocent and sweet smiles of pure joy when playing blocks together and getting one into the square hole perfectly. It is the big girl attitude Isabelle has as she get to ride in the Jeep-Car with her big brother when he drives along at a speed slow enough and safe enough for her.

 

 

  And it’s the moments like yesterday afternoon when Isabelle catches a flower blowing in the wind and walks to her brother to show him what she’s found. And no matter what game, ball or big boy activity Michael may have been playing, it is stopped and time stands still as together they investigate the flowers in the crack along the road.

It is love. A special bond between two people that were brought into each other’s lives in a plan so perfectly orchestrated, I can only gives thanks to the man running the show above.

 

Until next time,

Angie

Prayers for Boston...

Listening to the news today about the attack on the Boston Marathon was very sad to hear. 

As a runner (I guess these days it would be more accurate to say former runner), I can only imagine the fear and horror those involved with the race must have gone through.

 

In the coming days as the details of what happen become more clear and the authorities figure out who are responsible, I hope that we can find peace.  A world where we can all respect each others differences and learn to work together to make the world better.  A world where violence and innocent loss is not the answer, but where acceptance, love and togetherness heal pain and all wounds.

 

As I think about all the tragedy and sadness that has filled our news in the recent past, it makes me worry what headlines our children will come to read as adults.  I remember as a child hearing my parents ask, "What has this world come to?" and today I find myself asking the very same question.

 

I pray that some day very soon this sadness and tragedy will stop and that we can come to celebrate the great victories of life.  Whether those victories are completing the Boston Marathon or safely attending first grade.

 

 

Fifteen years ago, as a high school track athlete there was a prayer our team said before every race.  And tonight I dug through my closet, to find my cleat box that carefully holds the memories from track seasons past, including the prayer that gave me hope and peace as I prepared for each race.

 

Tonight as thousands of runners contact their families and count their blessings of safety, I pray for those who have finished their last race, for those who lay in a hospital fighting to race again and for those who experienced first hand the horror that we pray never happens again.

 

Come Holy Spirit enlighten me, guide me, strengthen me, console me.

Tell me what you want me to do.

Give me your orders. 

I submit myself to all that you desire and accept all you permit to happen to me.

Let me only do your will.

Amen.

 

Until next time,

angie

Tigger and Pooh

Isabelle has been a fan of Tigger (and Pooh) and the rest of the Winnie the Pooh gang for a long time.  And her loves continues to grow for them as I will explain in the coming days.  But for now, here are some photos I took of her when she was between 7 and 8 months old. 

 

Her love for "ooh" and "Ta" is super cute to watch.  Here's a few glimpses from their earlier days of being friends....

 

Until next time,

Angie

Wordless Wednesday… Google me this….

The boys love Google.  Obsessed would be an understatement.  You know as a child when you’d ask your parents the meaning of a particular word and they’d send you to the dictionary (as in the monstrous book that weighed at least 10 pounds and collected dust next to the stack of 27 encyclopedia books) to look it up yourself; many things have changed from the good-ol-days.    On a side note is it bad that spell check doesn’t even recognize how to spell encyclopedia anymore?  Anyway, I’ve come to the realization that my children have no idea what a dictionary let alone and entire stack of encyclopedias are.  To them there is only one resource to turn to for all the info they could ever want.  That source…. GOOGLE.

 You wouldn’t believe the questions they want us to look up on Google.

A few of the common requests….

 

“Mom- can you look up and see where Joe Falco (as in the quarterback for the Baltimore Raven’s) lives?”  “What’s his phone number, can we call him?”

“Mom- can you Google where Superman buys his clothes? You know the clothes he wears in New York so people don’t know he’s Superman.”

And one of the more interesting….

Recently I was asked, “Can you Google if Harry Potter is alive?”  What?  Why Gabriel? I said.  Michael interjected saying, “Gabriel, Harry Potter is NOT alive.  He’s in the movies.”  To which Gabriel sharply retorted, “Yes he is alive Michael, Ms. Katie (their after school teacher) told me he is alive. And Ms. Katie would not lie to me.”  So Google it I did (see below) and read directly from the second listing (and from another great source wiki…answers).  I said, “Gabriel, I’m sorry Harry Potter is not alive.”  With a big gasp, “Gabriel inhaled in complete surprise, and said “Mom- I can’t believe Google is wrong.  I know Harry Potter is alive, because Ms. Katie told me she is married to him.”

And finally a story that proves to me my boys firmly believe that Google has the answers to everything one could ever want to know and more.

The other day at lunch we were of course talking about sports.  Gabriel WAS at the table.  Talking about everything from football to baseball and even some wrestling.  Gabriel said, “Mom – Can you Google to see how many football fields God has in Heaven so I know how much I’ll get to play when I go there?”

 

Once again, I was left without words.

 

Until next time,

Angie

Isabelle the adventure-seeker..

Looking back at Isabelle as a tiny tiny baby I never would have guessed she would grow to become the adventure, get-into-everything, climb on everything toddler that she is.  The world  (i.e. our house) is her adventureland and she plans to investigate, learn about and climb on everything she can.

Take for example her adventure to climb to the top of Mount Stove... or as we call it in our house, the stove.  Isabelle loves to walk right up to the stove, grab onto the over door handle and step up onto the drawer to peer up onto the stove to see what's cooking.  Needless to say we've been having a lot of cold and microwaved meals lately.  At first she didn't weight enough to pull the oven door open but now she's finally reached a weight comparable to the oven door and so now we must always keep the oven door locked.  Here's a demo of how she enjoys conquering Mount Stove.

And then there is Chair Peak.  Who knew it was so enjoyable to pull chairs over to a wall, climb on top of them, then stand on your tippy toes and try to reach the light switches.  Yes, I guess touching the light switches is the true victory for this climbing expedition.  See her conquer that feat here....

And then the latest adventure, the Mount Everest of this mountainous land that is our home.  Just last night, Isabelle decided to climb on top of her brother's art table chair, which was next to the art table, which was next to our dining room table.  I'm sure you can see where this is going.... and although I didn't actually get her "victory climb" on tape, I did get one of her practice climbs, as you can see here.  In her victory climb she went from the small chair, to the art table and finally to on top of the big dining room table.  Those items have now been separated and moved away from each other.

So now that you've seen how the climber is in action, please rest assured there were no injures in the filming of these videos.  Although it looks like we may send her out on her adventure climbs unsupervised, I assure you there are many watchful hands surrounding her and backing her up.  And you may be asking yourself why we let her do it, we usually only let her do it until I get it on video and then we move her to another activity.  See I'm going to use this as evidence for when day when she's a mom, has a baby that climbs on everything and can't figure out where the behavior comes from. 

Until next time,
Angie