The blogger site is retooled just enough to confuse the heck out of me. This could take some serious getting used to. Sometimes I wonder who is the beady-eyed man sitting behind a desk thinking, "I wonder how we can make the interface more difficult to navigate? hmmmm.... Oh! I GOT it."
Easton's favorite Youtube clip is this one showing a man who strapped a set of wings and some jets to himself. Easton's eyes were wide open as he learned what is possible. At the end he said, "Maybe I can be a jet man someday!" Here is the Jetman Flight at Grand Canyon West
Layla's favorite Youtube clip is Jotta A.-Agnus Dei - Programa Raul Gil. We play this song in our car regularly and Layla sings right along with it.
After seeing a talented boy sing on stage with the cheering crowd Layla's response was, "Maybe someday I will sing on stage like the little boy". I'm starting to see a pattern here with the twins looking forward to the wonderful things they can accomplish in life. They honestly believe they can do anything they want in life. This is my greatest success so far in parenting.
Easton and Layla reached the end of my knowledge today. I taught them everything I know and whatever else they learn from here on out will be from school or google. Or Youtube. OK, maybe they haven't reached the end of my knowledge but they are starting to ask questions for which I don't have an answer. For example yesterday Easton asked, "Dad why does it get dark?" I answered as best I could using small words and hand gestures to describe the Earth's orbit. The twins stared at me blankly and I knew I was in trouble. I did a quick Youtube search and found this clip:
In case you haven't figured it out I think Youtube is the most awesome tool on the internet for teaching and learning. My friend's son is 16 years old and taught himself how to play drums by watching Youtube clips. that's it. No lessons, no classes. just Youtube.
Anyway, the light bulbs went on and we continued discussing the light / dark concept. All was well until this evening. I heard Easton talking quietly 45 minutes after he was supposed to be asleep. I walked in and told him it's time to go to sleep. He paused for a minute and said, "Why does the Earth rotate?" Uh... hmmmmm... I almost gave the generic answer of "because God makes it rotate", but that's not the full scientific answer I know Easton was looking for. I told him we will research it together tomorrow. Fatherhood is more exciting every day. I love teaching and enabling. This is my gift and my passion. Seeing light bulbs go on in Easton and Layla's eyes or anyone else's for that matter is what makes me fulfilled.
Layla wants to just jump in and do whatever it is we are learning. I doubt she will ever read an instruction manual in her life. However, Easton has a unquenchable thirst for knowledge and explanation. I smile just thinking about how perfectly unique Easton and Layla are. Each with their own gifts and talents. Easton's desire to absorb information like a sponge and willingness to think things through from A to Z gets me all excited. I'm thinking about the wonderful conversations we will have and adventures we will undertake to find answers to his questions. I can't think of another thing in the world to make me feel more complete with my purpose in life than to pour into Easton for the next 15 years.
He napped for a full 90 minutes and I went in to find him slowly waking up. I started to ask why he wore the Spiderman hat to bed, but what answer could he possibly give that would suffice? I just chuckled and picked him up. The few moments after nap time are the only dependable moments I can count on for Easton to cuddle with me. He tucks his hands in between his body and mine while resting his head on my collarbone. A few seconds later his engine revs up and he squirms for me to put him down. Like a wind-up toy he's off and running again until bed time.
Layla uses her quiet time to play with dolls, dress up stuffed animals, and work the princess cash register. She said, "Nana bought this for me." Her quiet time is much shorter because she never sleeps.
Easton is really getting into the spirit of identifying with Daddy. He grew his way into a new set of Crocs and the first thing he did was point out how his Crocs are like mine. It's like having my own one-man fan club.
The twins built a fort for the stuffed animal puppies to sleep. They whispered, "be quiet! The puppies are sleeping." I put my finger to my lips and said, "Shhhhhhh... We're being quiet so we don't wake up the puppies." Then I told them to put their finger to their mouth and say shhhhh.
They didn't close their fists, but instead just put their open hand up to their mouth. I need to be more specific when I give instructions.
We took the entire morning looking at home improvement stores just to get ideas for furniture and paint and items we want for the new house. The twins were fascinated with the rows of carpet samples which flip like a book. You can tell by Easton's expression he's not into Earth tones.
One store had an entire play room complete with firetrucks, crayons, and the Sponge Bob movie playing. What a great idea for a store! Kendra and I took our time in this place walking slowly holding hands and enjoying the brief alone time..
The Great Indoors is one of our favorite places to wish and dream. Easton and Layla see it as a place to run the isles being silly. The other patrons laughed and smiled just as much as Kendra and I as they spread their overly-loud cheer through the store.
Tonight we said Good-bye to our best friends. Kendra's best friend April, my best friend Jason, and Easton and Layla's best friend Layla Ruth. We chatted for a while tonight as they ate chinese take-out in their empty house. The kids had no toys to play with and no furniture to climb on so they just ran back and forth down the halls. I took my Canon PoS SD1300 because I didn't want to lug my T3 around. The slow shutter/flash speed and blurry results were less than impressive, but you gotta work with what's available. Here are the three amigos holding still for a couple of final group hugs before they hit the road tomorrow.
Kendra will grieve for the next week or longer. I hope she has enough down time to work through the emotions of her best friend living 6 hours away instead of 6 minutes away. The next 2 months will be extremely busy with back to back company staying with us. Neill and Jenny will visit for 10 days then Aunt Suzie for 7 days. We are excited to have them here even in the midst of the home purchase and pending move next month.
Kendra will need some strong words of encouragement so call her if you get a chance. Not every day is filled with 100% happy times, but luckily our life is so blessed that we can work through the difficulties and still realize how blessed we really are. I'm having a tough time working through my feelings about our friends moving and as a result my thoughts about it aren't coherent enough to even type out here. I'll have to journal a bit and come back to this.
See you soon!
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