From Grandma Larson

Each month I email out a link to all our photos -- well, sometimes it's done each month, other times not so much. It's important to me to keep our far-away family members feeling like they know what our lives are like, and what the kids are up to.

After I sent the November photos, this is the note that Eileen sent me...

Lara, those are wonderful pictures. Reed is a beautiful child isn't he? Amy is pretty too and I love the vitality that flows through every fiber of her being but Reed is Movie Star material from his curley hair and darling teeth to his snappy eyes. You capture it all very well. But....who is that pale bald man that follows you'all around? hahahaha The box of Christmas presents came yesterday. Thanks alot. Eileen

I'm so glad that Amy's personality shows in her pictures. She's so much like me in many ways, from the shape of her face and the curls in her hair, to her beautiful blue eyes, as well as how easily her feelings are hurt. But the side of her that's so uniquely Amy is that whatever she does, she does it all the way - she is so full of life and fun and joy and love. That's why she's my sunshine girl.

By the way, I think Eileen is having a hard time seeing Tod with his hair shaved off, which is why she makes that comment about the 'pale bald man'. It looks good, though!

The photo is of Amy trying on the new Christmas jumper that Eileen made for her - she is so proud to wear her special dress!

Career anxiety and figuring out the answers

Tonight we went out to eat and afterward stopped off to get gas at 7-11. While we were filling up, a big tanker truck came in to fill up the station's tanks. I explained to the kids what he was there to do, and we watched for a few minutes while he started his work. He took off the covers from the ground, stuck in a long "dip stick" (I'm sure there's probably a more technically correct term, but that's what I'd liken it to) and seemed to be measuring how much gas they'd need, and then he put the hoses in. As we drove away, Reed said "I wish I could find out more about all the good jobs. Now I know about gas tanker drivers, and I know about some other jobs, but how am I going to decide what I want to do when I grow up? There are so many jobs to learn about!!"

Both kids are fairly obsessed with Slurpees, and they were quite disappointed that we weren't going to get one (we'd just been out to dinner!). But Reed wondered aloud "Why do they call them Slurpees?" and I had no immediate answer (I had probably reached my daily question limit, which hovers somewhere around the 1,397 mark)....but Amy did. She said "Because you SLURP them up!". Ah ha! Smart girl!

The more things change...

...the more they stay the same. Here's a picture of Reed on his first night in his "big boy" bed, in July 2004.

And here's Reed this past Monday night....notice the book in his hand (and notice that it is a kids encyclopedia, of all things).

That picture of Reed as a not-quite-2-year old is one of my favorites of him, even though you can't even see his beautiful face. It was a preview of the kind of kid he'd be, one who loves books and needs them much in the way he needs air and water.

This sums it up

I read the blogs of a few different moms, including Betsy Shaw on "Momformation". She recently wrote this about her 6 year old daughter, and it sums up my own feelings so nicely...

I’ve grown awkward in my love for her. She’s gotten so big, I no longer feel comfortable, or even entitled, to maul her, smother her with kisses or hold her tight for too long, like I do so easily with Isla. It’s strange, this constant transitioning. It’s so subtle I don’t notice it for months. Then, suddenly, I’m blindsided, no, sideswiped, by the reality that all babies grow up.

Just when I'm thinking Reed's getting too grown up, he'll do what he did a couple night ago and ask me to sing him "Baby Mine" as he goes to sleep.

No matter how old they are, they'll still be my babies.

And happy anniversary today to my wonderful husband!