(Photos are temporarily not uploading. A true tragedy, but I want to get this text posted now and I'll add photos as soon as I can.)
Hmm, well even though November didn't happen at all on this blog (and December is nearly over), it most certainly happened in our home. I know I've said it before, but I'm finding it increasingly difficult to find time to write in this space. I very much want to continue writing here as I know I will forget all of these fun stories and I want my kids to know what life was like for them in our family when they were too little to remember. I am so enjoying our little family. What a gift to be able to share the same roof with my three favorite people in the whole world. I am frequently reminded that this is not everyone's experience, and the blessing is never lost on me.
So. Here are a few Olmsted family highlights from the last several weeks in no particular order:
1. Halloween was a blast. It didn't rain! That, alone, was epic. Madelyn wanted to be Cinderella, and she was so thankful it was warm enough and dry enough to trick-or-treat in just her dress and her fancy shoes (no boots or coat needed). You could tell she felt so pretty, and she was super into trick-or-treating. Last minute, we decided to dress Henry as The Fonz. He already had the motorcycle jacket and a little riding motorcycle, and given his obsession, it seemed the obvious choice. We slicked his hair back, and oh my goodness, he was so stinkin' cute. He rode his motorcycle the whole time we trick-or-treated and you could tell he just felt bad. So hilarious.
2. Henry's language has absolutely sky-rocketed in the last several weeks. All of a sudden around 22 months he started pointing to things and correctly naming them..."bapple" "puppy" "Doodie (aka "Maddie")." Then, about three or so weeks ago, he started putting two and three words together. He'll say "that mean, Mama?" over and over again as we're driving somewhere and he's observing new things out his window. "Milk, peas, Mama!" (He's generally quite polite and tags a "peas!" on to most requests, thank God.) Or "No, Maddie! Mine! Wenwy (aka "Henry")!" Let's just say, he can get his point across pretty well these days. And if you're wrong, he's not at all shy about saying "no" and repeating (and repeating and repeating) until you get it right. He has dozens of words at this point, but here are a few of my favorites:
- "loolee" = kitty
- "bbbbbb" = motorcycle (heard at least fifty times each day)
- "neenut" = Santa OR donut...context is key here, people
- "mimas yites" = Christmas lights
- "miam" = Liam, one of his buddies from daycare
- [wookie sound] = water. Kurt couldn't be more proud. Kid can't say "water" but he can make a wookie sound.
- "nuggle" = snuggle
- "bike" = bike. Umm, an object this important necessitates exact pronunciation.
- "woowoo" = fire trunk
- "meemeemeen" = airplane
- "neeneeneen" = train
- "meemeemince" = ambulance (are you sensing a transportation theme yet?)
- "bobobo" = polar bear OR bulldozer, again, context!
3. I am so enjoying watching Madelyn's and Henry's relationship develop. We are trying really hard to teach these two that when something good happens to one of us, it's a celebration for all of us. I so want them to have each other's backs and cheerlead for each other throughout their lives. They're the only sibling they're going to get after all. Without exception, when something good happens to Henry, the first person he wants to tell is his sister. When he gets an owie, he needs a kiss from Mama, but he quickly zooms to Sister to get a kiss from her as well. If I give him a little treat, he won't take one without taking one for Maddie, too. And on Mondays when Sister is at school, he truly is a bit lost without her. He wakes up from his nap on those days asking to go pick her up right away. Melt.My.Heart. And Madelyn, for her part, is such an encouraging, nurturing, protective Big Sister. He'll say a new word correctly and she'll come running to me to excitedly report his feat and then return to him to give him a high five and say "good job, Buddy!" She has said repeatedly that she loves sharing a room with her brother because she is lonely without him. One time, Kurt caught her "reading" on the couch to Henry from one of his motorcycle magazines. Solidify heart and then Melt.It.All.Over.Again.
4. Madelyn learned all about the word "fuck." Bear with me here before you totally judge me. I won't go into all the details, but the bottom line is that Mumford and Sons is a fantastic band with an occasionally naughty mouth. And I am a usually observant mother who occasionally gets distracted at inopportune moments. Sigh. So she heard it, we talked about it (without going into a literal definition thank God), I gave her a chance to say it and get it out of her system, and then I told her that if I ever heard that word out of her mouth or heard of her saying that word anywhere, I would wash her mouth out with soap. She hasn't said a word more about it, and we now have a clean version of Little Lion Man.
5. If any of you try to get in touch with us in the next few weeks and months and find it difficult, it's because Kurt has become a sudden and unexpected rap star. He and his Nike colleagues wrote, filmed, and produced a rap video for their most recent quarterly meeting that was very well received and, well, we're pretty sure a record deal is in the near future. Rest assured, we will not forget that we knew all of you before we hit it big. If you want an autographed head shot, we are more than happy to oblige.
6. (For those of you who are too kind to detect the dripping sarcasm in the above paragraph, all of that was a load of hogwash. Well, not all of it. Kurt and his colleagues really did write, film, and produce a rap video in the spirit of SNL's "Lazy Sunday" Digital Short. It's awesome. I find myself legitimately singing it in my head frequently. We can't share it, unfortunately, but suffice to say, it provided a lot of laughs in our home and around Nike. Andy Samburg would be proud.)
7. My nonprofit organization, The Family Room, has hit its first major, major bumps in the road. It's discouraging for sure, but I also feel a bit rudderless at the moment. I feel called to take this organization in a slightly (but critically) different direction, and I need some serious guidance. Please pray that the right people to provide this guidance will come to the forefront of my brain as I'm not even quite sure where to start. I'll write more about this in a later post.
We are thoroughly enjoying this Advent season and pray that each of you are too!
