The 2011 wrapup: crunchy
In a word: crunchy.
The kids are SO big. I mean really, everyone always says this, but Aidan is almost bigger than me. I am not kidding. And not just size wise, but their brains too. And they talk to us like adults. They chide us for being ourselves. The are sarcastic. They rib us about our character traits. No one tells you about this, how your kids will so quickly become fleshed out in this way, but then I guess I really haven’t paid that much attention to kids this age before. I guess the next step is that kidding around turns into disdain, but we aren’t there yet so we’ll enjoy what we’ve got right now.
On the “what we did this year” side, the boys finished up kindergarten and third grade at Wedgwood. Noteable bright spots included working on a converting a novel to board game (Aidan) and learning to read (Liam) !!! Working on the web site and PTA board this year was very enlightening. In general, there is a lot of work to do. I now know that even a little is a lot. And schools need help and they don’t always know how to ask.
Both boys spent one of the most freezing Springs on record playing the great American pasttime. Liam really figured out the game this year — you hit the ball and you run and you try and get people out. And Aidan found his niche with pitching. Basically, the boy throws and it hurts me. We were super lucky and had great coaches and fun parents to be with on sidelines while we froze our tushes off. I personally missed the less competitive days with our old Bearclaws/Top Pot Doughnuts team, but sports march onward.
Liam really got into gymnastics this year in a big way. He loves working on moves and being inside the gym. We tried out “team” this summer but he wasn’t quite ready for six hours a week, so we are just doing classes for now.
After the freeze, a nice Florida visit couldn’t come soon enough and we spent spring break in Sarasota. From years of making this trek, we are pros and the boys see Nonnie and Poppy’s as their second home. Family connections — I do not take these for granted and I am so happy to have them for the boys and Matt, and, let’s face it, myself.
There wasn’t a big trip in our summer, but we managed a short trek to Seabrook for the weekend. Matt was in heaven, like someone took his New England dreams, edited them for his current reality, and served them up on a silver spoon three hours from Seattle. It was a Pleasantville, pop-up vacation, and we can’t wait to go back.
The weekend inspired a fantastic short story from Aidan, called Fireworks. If I can wrangle it from his teacher I will put it here. He is really impressing us with his writing this year — there’s something particularly sweet about it being so hard-won. A year of tutoring, parental torture, and digging really deep and now he is just spins off dialogue like it is nobody’s business. It helps that he has a fantastic teacher this year. Truly, one of those he’ll remember his whole life. Okay, maybe it is more that we will remember. But she has a pet snake in her classroom. Need I say more?
Big changes for Matt at the end of summer with a transition to HTC after four years at Frog Design. He’s learning all about the new company, getting free Mandarin lessons, and has already made one trip to Taiwan, with more in the future. It is hard work, but fun work, challenging work (crunchy work). Laura spent the year at Allrecipes.com, working with great people and doing interesting things on a variety of fronts, including video.
The Fall and early winter here in Seattle is making up for the nasty Spring and back to school through Halloween were sunny. We welcomed N and P in the fall and didn’t have to send them to a hotel this year due to heat issues. They got to see the boys first days of school and helped up immensely during the invetiable childcare gaps. They are such cheerleaders for the boys — I credit them with making first and fourth grade start off right.
We’ve had a great soccer season (I love soccer) and are having fun embracing our hometown soccer team, the Sounders. After years of Red Sox indoctrination from Daddy, it is nice to have a local team to root for — though we do love being part of the Red Sox Nation and attending games here in town (thank you Mariners for being American League).
Thanksgiving offered us a chance to escape to sunny California and my hometown. We have the BEST Thanksgivings. The kids might complain when they get older, they might say: they always made us hike through cow patties, maybe, or my mom kept nagging us to get outside and get away from the video games. But I am not complaining. I love spending time with Nana Michal, Alex, Yvette, Joe and everyone else who comes and goes. This time we had the perfect endcap: 24 hours in Yosemite. We did it Julie M. style, packing in hiking, ice skating, Ahwahnee dining room, falls peeping, photos with Half-Dome in the background, and smores. Enjoy the video of our lives: crunchy.
So you read this far. Why crunchy? You know that feeling when you are walking through fresh snow or even a heavy frost. It is crunchy right? That’s life right now. It is big. There’s resistance with every step, with a lot of things in our lives. It is not gliding. It is not sludging either. But there’s texture and sound and feedback to every move. It is crunchy.