As the kids get older and finally to an age to remember information when they are adults I get more and more sentimental and overly excited that they will finally be able to recall what we do. On average a persons first memory (aside from picture reference) is 5ish. Some people can recall earlier times and some cannot really recall until 6/7 years old. I can remember a lot from preschool and my 4 year old year but mainly 5 years old. I have a superb memory for useless information. One reason I excelled at being a biology major is because I can read something once and memorize it. Vacations from here on out should be a permenent memory for Dev----YAY.
You never think that when you are 7, 8, 9 years old you will think about your actions and events that happened and smile. Its the little things....for example when I get Devin up in the morning if he sleeps in I tell him softly, "its time to wake up." The first time I said it I immediately smiled. It brought me back to when I was ~9 and sleeping over my friend Julies house. We used to sleep in her basement and her dad would come down and sing in the stairwell that it was time to wake up and come up for breakfast. He did this every sleep over for years.
When I was really little our best friends were the neighbor hood kids and our cousins. I really hope that some younger families move into our neighborhood as the years go since a lot of our neighbors are my parents age. There are a few kids here and they are nice-but we need enough for flashlight tag! Our houses are not really "sprucer tag" friendly but they can definitely play flashlight tag and simply ride bikes to one another's houses to play. We used to play as kids with not a care in the world. Climbing trees, swinging into the creek behind Wilson field, bike riding, walking to 7/11-Riv....and of course each others back yards with forts and turtles and GI Joe vs Barbie battles. I mean what kid did not love growing up in the 80s in small down America. Yes I live very close from Philly and NYC is just a hop skip and jump away but my lil town was and (kinda) still is small town life. Kids still ride their bikes to school on nice day---but is this realistic with what just happened on Friday? Newtown was a small town...
You cannot keep your kids home all day-they need to live and experience life as a kid. I know this. But then you think of the parents who sent their lil guys off to school, kissing them and waving as they went on their way to the school bus. Somewhere you should never think twice about when it comes to their safety. As a stay at home mom watching your kid pull away in a bus is heart breaking but you are happy for them since they are so excited and so proud. You get used to it since it's part of the every day routine and you enjoy your alone time with the second born since its the first time you really get more than the 2.5 hr preschool day. You then you love to watch him come off the bus and wave daily to his driver and then his friends as they continue down the road. He does this EVERYDAY. He gets off the bus, runs across the street to our driveway and then stands and waves. It really is so sweet and so kind. So innocent and so loving. And some asshole had to take that sweetness away from 20 parents. I have not watched the news about it nor do I plan to read any of the articles about the funerals and press releases about the school as it plans to reopen. Why? Why watch it? I can sympathize with the feelings but I truly hope I NEVER have to experience what they feel. There is a lot of arguments about letting your kids know what happened. Almost every parent I talked to or who has messaged me said (if they discussed what happened) they were very simple and no details were given. People with 8,9 10 year olds and up can obviously discuss what happened but the parents with 3,4,5,6 year olds gave no details or simple events. There is one person that told their young child what happened and I do not agree with it. That is their way of parenting and I have my way. Neither is wrong or right but I feel good about my decision knowing that people my parents age, most of my friends and every educator I have spoken to all agree that they do not need to know and if they do keep it very simple.
Christmas is going to be here in 5 days and I want Devin and Riley to focus on that and what it means for Christmas. Its not just about Santa and gifts. Too many parents now a day do not focus on anything but presents and Santa. I want my kids to know what Christmas is (even though we are not religious) and to appreciate time with family and friends. My kids are not allowed to just go into a present opening frenzy. They take turns and say thank you after each gift-if its from someone else. I find it appalling when kids just tear through everything like its a race. Why are parents not teaching them manners? And how can a kid see; really see what they are receiving if they are opening and then moving on to the next so fast? When I ask Riley what Christmas means she says "Its Jesus' birthday and we celebrate him." This is the first year I am not ready. I am usually done every preparation by the first week in December....but with Frank traveling with work and being so busy with dumb things I fell behind. Christmas cards just got finished Monday. Sad sad sad.
So now I get my day started with Riley wanting to watch yet another Christmas movie since that is what she only wants to watch these days and I get things together for the day. Devin has his serious Santa count down and is very excited to wear jammies to school on Friday for Kindergarten pajama day. Yesterday he was questioning if a bad man would come into his school and although he did bring it up again today, I was able to divert him to finding Missy his elf. 5 year olds should be focused on playing and enjoying life-not worrying if a gunman will be busting into his school and killing him. Yes there's protocol to practice drills in case of emergency now...but he does not need the fear of what happened Friday to plague his daily life.
As our first holiday week back east (in 6 yrs) approaches I am getting excited for the kids to experience it all with family. Most of our friends in Las Vegas traveled to family for the holidays so it was typically just us...and now they have a line up of events. Its festive and fun and mom and dad will be drinking lots of wine :) Hooray for being back east where it all is so much more festive with cold weather, fire places and that cozy holiday spirit! Except the weather has been screwy and my irises and daffodils are coming up already!
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