Good, Good Stuff

These warm days are getting numbered, so we've been trying to milk them and play outside as much as we can. We've had some fun the past couple weeks with lots of bike rides, watering/gardening, ice cream runs and even a day of raspberry-picking.




If there is one activity my kids love the most, its swinging. Both of them LOVE it...like, flip out and squeal the whole time they swing. So the past several days, we've been doing a "tour de parks" and have hit a different park every single day. Jude declares--with passion--each one is his favorite when we leave:)







School (whatever that means at this age) is getting started. Jude will be doing Meridian Street Co-op Preschool again this year, and is making the big leap from once/week to twice/week. He goes Tuesdays from 9:30-11:30 and Thursdays from 9:30-1:00--Thursdays are special because they include "Lunch Bunch" where he eats in his class with the other kids. Ada is doing Mothers Day Out at the same church building every Thursday from 9-1pm. Yes, that means I am childless every Thursday for 3.5 hours! Some of those Thursdays I'll be co-oping in Jude's class, but most of them I'll be footloose and fancy free! (actually, I'll probably be working, but it sounds fun for now!) Ada started Mothers Day Out today and Jude still has 2 weeks before he starts, and it hit me that Jude and I hardly ever hang out alone. Ada and I do sometimes when Jude is off doing big-boy stuff (like school last year) but never me and Jude, so I was so excited when I woke up this morning! We dropped Ada off (she never gives a backwards glance) and went the bank (sounds lame but Jude loves it!), Hubbard and Cravens for a coffee, Target for new school shoes, the Monon Center to go swimming, lunch at McAllisters, and our favorite children's bookstore, Kids Ink. I cannot tell you how much fun it was. We talked and talked about funny stuff, silly stuff and very important stuff. I carried him on my hip since he never gets to do that anymore:) I think my "kid-handling tolerance" is a lot higher these days, because just being with one kid felt so leisurely! It helps that Jude is a mellow kid.



He told me he loved me for the first time. Ever. Unpromted. Driving along on Meridian Street, after a conversation about streets, directions and reasons for road construction, it happened. We settled into a comfortable silence. And then his tiny voice announced, "I love you, Mama."
You better believe tears started streaming down behind my sunglasses. I've waited 3 years to hear those words come back to me. Jude is a deliberate person and he very much means what he says when he decides to say it. He chose our special day and a special moment to tell me. He doesn't have to love me, but he does. Jude loves me. This sounds SO corny, but all the labor pains, temper tantrums, sleepless nights and worry/stress of parenting became so dim today. I created a person and we love each other. At least until he's a teenager:)

Ada does not have quite the intense story that Jude has today. Those days are comin'! Right now, she's into tongues. Her own and other people's. She recently sprouted 2 new teeth, and she eats more than two linebackers. Oh, and she's the greatest girl I know:)