It was a wild ride 2017. Our babies turned 5 and 3. We moved from the neighborhood we became parents. Moved from our first home together, our first street where we went from apartment to little 2 bedroom duplex to moving to a completely different town 12 miles south. We are now in the cutest house on the block. A big back yard. Fireplace. 3 bedrooms. A walk to town. A two minute drive to school. It was a year of tremendous stress- politically, economically, and personally. We often times found our family hunkering down and guarding ourselves from the external forces pushing their way into our life. We were pushed to grow, and grow we did, especially our kids.
Olive changed schools and started kindergarten. We were anxious about her meeting new friends in a new town. She has done great. It’s amazing to see how resilient she is, quickly adjusting and building friendships. She is learning to read and write. Site words are a big focus in this kindergarten year. If she could put her pens and crayons down long enough to focus on something besides making art, she would probably be reading novels- but she seems to be her happiest when making stories and drawing pictures. She played the “Stick Pedlar” in the Three Piggy Opera. She took tennis lessons, which at first was a stretch for her, but by the sixth lesson she was getting the hang of it and returning balls over the net. Hopefully we can keep her going on that. She got a bike without training wheels for Christmas- she was balancing and pedaling on her own on the first day. Now she just has to learn how to start and stop without my help.
Remington turned 3. This was a huge year for him. He went from still being a “baby” to being a little boy. He speaks very well. It’s all about Batman now a days, and that has seemed to be the theme for the year. Capes, masks, and figures- T-shirts with the bat symbol on them. He hasn’t started school yet, so he clings to Olive as his best friend. He misses her when she is away at school. He is definitely ready to go to school (especially now that he is potty trained, since October) he’ll be able to start next year. He is the sweetest boy. He grabs us so tight to give us hugs and kisses. He climbs into our bed in the middle of the night and snuggles up to Lindsay while she sleeps. In the morning, he could probably sleep in until 9 if it weren’t for his early rising sister waking up the whole house. He wakes up- grabs my face and says “it’s morning time!” Then slides off the bed in search for his sister and then something to eat. He has taken it upon himself to drag the chairs from the dining room into the kitchen. He pulls out the frozen fruit, the protein powder, the water, the almond milk- and starts to build himself smoothies in the morning. This wasn’t the safest thing in the world so we’ve put the blender where he can’t reach it even with the chair. But, we do let him add the ingredients and push the button. After breakfast he could sit and play with magnetiles and build castles for hours, especially if he can get Lindsay or I to sit with him on the floor. He learned to swing on our playground we built out back… “out, in, out, in” he chants as he moves back and forth.
Over the summer, both kids got really excited about the ocean. Olive, mostly likes standing at the edge gathering seaweed, and shells to collect- she is incredibly interested in biology, animals, plants- while Remington is a dare devil with the waves. He doesn’t yet understand that he can’t swim, but will charge the water and get thrown by the waves until I swoop him up. I took him on the boogie board which he calls “surfing” – I can tell this will be a common adventure for 2018.
So here we are. Going into a new year. My hope is to keep our babies happy. To eat well. For Lindsay and I to be fulfilled with the companies we are building. To love each other. Build community with others. Give back. Adventure. Inspire, and be inspired.
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