Right Now

School lets out for the summer at the end of the week.  Eileen is sad, Linus is excited, I am nervous, and Robin has no idea.  The freedom of summer has the potential to be fun and exciting.  However,  with all 3 kids all day, every day, there is lots of potential for fighting/grumpiness/frustration.  In these last few days, I am trying to breathe in all the wonderfulness that is the kids these days.  I need to be able to look back at this post when times get tough. 

Linus

I can't believe how grown up he is.  In a matter of days Linus will officially be a first grader! I tell people that when it comes to him, I am playing the long game (ie not nit picking him constantly over every misbehavior).  I feel like I am beginning to see the light at the end of the tunnel.  No one at his school believes that he is anything but delightful.  Karate has been so good for him.  It has really helped him to learn how to self-regulate.  Getting him to karate twice a week can be annoying, but he truly loves it.  I like that it enables a twice weekly workout for me in addition to the perk of character building for Linus.

Linus really is so very grown up.  Sometimes I have to remind myself he is only six years old and not rely on him too much.  He can be so responsible.  When Robin got hurt and cut himself the other day, Linus rushed to his aid, applying a wet cloth to the wound and then bandaging.  Linus is a very competitive and cutthroat board game player.  It's nice that he can handle games like Settlers of Catan.  I love who I see him becoming.  He understands the good stuff in life.  He asked if the next time it was a cold rainy day, if we could just stay inside by the fireplace, have hot cider and popcorn, do puzzles, play board games, and watch movies. I know, right?

Eileen

Eileen is her own person.  She loves pink, dresses, rainbows, unicorns, and princesses.  She also loves building, creating, and drawing.  In the last few weeks her art has really taken off and I've been impressed by her pictures.  The other day she drew a spider, cut it out, attached a long piece of tape, and hung it by the door in order to scare me when I walked through it. She rarely lets me take her picture or hang her art.

She was angry I tried to take a picture of her in her recital outfit.

I love how thoughtful she is.  She tries to think of ways to "fill people's buckets."  While she is supposed to be taking a nap, she likes to make cards in her room for people and then slip them under their doors. Eileen still likes to go off quietly by herself to read, draw, build, or play.  It's great except she leaves a path of destruction in her wake. We're still working on that part.

Robin

Robin remains all sweetness.  Despite all his challenges, he continues to persevere and soar.  His therapist can't believe how far he has come in six months.  He is sooooo close to making the switch to walking.  He is obsessed with Caspar Babypants and begs for more constantly.  Robin likes to wear his yellow boots.  He is beginning to do pretend play.  Robin pretends to pick flowers (which sounds a lot like "yellow") and then gives them to you.  This evening I caught him playing with his baby, putting Charley on his rocking horse, singing "rock, rock, rock."

rocking baby Charley

I love how he jumps up off the table the moment a wet diaper comes off to give me a hug and says "naked, naked, naked" while giggling.  I then get to wrestle him back down to put on a fresh diaper.  Robin melts my heart on a regular basis.  The way he says "Mama" with just the right amount of love, awe, and excitement.  Even better is when those words are followed by a kiss.

So yes, my kids are all kinds of awesome.  I need to remember this next week when the squabbling begins, the long unending weekend with no school to act as my salvation.  There will be a routine, swim lessons, day camps, and adventures to pass the summer.  I'm thinking if it all goes down hill, I'll just revert to a 1980s life style and make baloney sandwiches, turn on the sprinkler, find some TAB to drink while laying out in the sun and re-reading Summer Sisters by Judy Blume.  Maybe I'll do that anyway.