Tracking June

Rory is sitting beside me on the office stool. We are both wagging our heads to some fun spicy summer jazz tunes and admiring the summer sunset, through the window, bathing the freshly cut bright green front lawn (cut on the diagonal, my favorite!). She is “coloring” a hot rod car a bright sizzling red and I am so thankful I am not outside sizzling red in this heat! Hello triple digit summer. Thank you Lord Almighty for the finances to run our AC!

June was a great month. So great I can barely remember what happened. Let’s see… I went to the Home Educators Association of Virginia’s yearly convention in Richmond for work and doubly educational for personal research. I was homeschooled and hope to do the same with my kids. The conference was a great encouragement towards that endeavor. But let me tell you the most impressive part of this conference. It was around 12k people (so I heard, but it didn’t feel anything like that) and every session (one hour workshop) was open to homeschool parents AND kids of ALL ages. And I tell you what, you know when you are at a homeschool conference when the parents are the ones making a ruckus and the kids are politely coloring, snacking, or just simply sitting and listing to the speaker (gasp!) with absolute focus. Loved that!

Speaking of absolute focus. Rory decided one Friday in June that the conversation I was having with my mother was not at all fascinating and so she decided, quite determinedly, to get up and walk away. And no, she was not walking more than one wobbly step prior to this occurrence. I tell you what, she is now trying out for the summer Olympics and will likely join the toddler power walking team come the 27th. Watch closely during the opening ceremonies, she will be in pink, holding a pig, ’cause that’s just her style.

I have no doubts that her interviews for the Olympic events will be beautifully articulated as her vocabulary has tripled in the last month. Albeit some is still in a language I haven’t studied closely enough to interpret, but Lord knows she knows EXACTLY what those sentences, paragraphs, and well rehearsed speeches mean. I do find it odd however that she RARELY calls me Mommy or any form of such endearment. Rather, she calls me “Nannie”. To any other family this might just be a little cute, a little odd, a little “okay, why that word?”. Well, that is still partially our thought process as well, however, my grandmother – the one we all lovingly called “Nannie” – lived in this house before us for 30+ years and sadly Rory never met her. So, not that I believe in any of those sorts of things…but we are beginning to wonder the choice of endearment or why she says “Good morning Nannie!” Someone find me a baby translator! I need an explanation and she only gives it in baby French!

Ryder has been busy swimming, playing in sprinklers, seeing his first theater movie (Brave) and helping me pick my garden’s plunder.

 

Hello gorgeous tomatoes! Hello redolent peppers! You are welcome baby #3, the garden salsa is being consumed by the chip fulls!

 

Oh right, baby #3 – Ryder and Rory accompanied me and baby #3 to our 16 week check up last week! It is amazing how kids, no matter what they are doing, stop in their tracks when they hear a baby heart beat. That helicopter “whoosh! whoosh! Whoosh!” came on the little hand-held speaker and Rory stared at it as if life just came into the room with the best song on the planet (she’s right by the way) and Ryder turned and said, “That’s a…that’s a BABY!” Be still my heart. Then as fast as it “whooshed” on it was gone. That kid swam to the other side of its bubble and gave the midwife a good hunt in finding him/her that the midwife said, “Wow, you’ve got an active one! Get ready to be worn out as it gets stronger!” Hmmm okay, so that’s why I want to toss my cookies still. You try hosting a kid as active as a hamster who has been licking sugar cubes instead of salt wheels the last four months. I will start disciplining this kid by name come July 27th when we find out who he/she is. “Cut that out will ya!? Its 3AM, this isn’t funny. Just you wait until you come out here!”

I digress. A small, blue-eyed, blond sprite just ran off with a snoopy and a pig. I get the hint. Its bed time. Good night!

This post was brought to you by:
Etta James, A Sunday Kind of Love
Harry Connick, Jr., You Didn’t Know Me When
The Rat Pack, Just One of Those Things
Popsicle Toes, Diana Krall
Ray Charles, Georgia On My Mind
Dean Martin, Mambo Italiano