Like Sands Through the Hourglass

Life is crazy.  It is busy.  It is stressful.  It is forever moving forward.

It does not stop.

But that doesn’t mean that I don’t need to remember to pause sometimes.  Not to smell the roses necessarily, but to listen more closely to the rambling story my 3-year-old is telling me.  To burn into my mind the image of the still partially-gummy smile of my 11-month-old before the teeth to gums ratio swings in the other direction.

To smell the tops of their heads.  One sweaty.  One still faintly ‘baby.’  (Unless it manages to smell like ‘Turkey Dinner’, oatmeal or bananas)

To look them in the eyes as I tell them I love them.

And to remember all of the adorable little quirks that really only last for a moment.

In order to help myself out with that last one, I am using this space to write a list of some of my favorite expressions – verbal and facial – of this very moment.  I am going to try to use them in context, where possible.  I did write John Xavier a letter a few months ago, but this time is about both of them…because they are both pretty darn quirky (read: hilarious) right now.

Carlitos:

Mommy, I want to press the ‘aligator’ button!  Are we going up or down?

I want lots and lots of ‘bananaise’ on my salami sandwich, please.  I like bananaise, Mommy.

Oh, that’s right, I was supposed to put on pants.  I ‘turgot it.’

This is the goodest dinner I never had!

You are the bestest mommy in the whoooole, whole ‘wuhld!’

I want ‘chicken Megans’ for dinner tonight.

A balloon!  I can not ‘telieve’ it!

It’s okay mommy.  You don’t have to give up.

Xavi:

You wave hello with one hand and goodbye with the other…at the same time!  (Usually right after the other person has given up and walked away)

If we say ‘abrazo’ or ‘hug’ you lean in and smile for a hug.

‘Kiss’ or ‘besos’ gets us lots of open-mouth kisses.

You are figuring out how to bop and bounce along to music.  Always with a huge grin on your face.

Right now you love to point to everything…and then say ‘Ohhhhhhhhh!’

You also love to say ‘Uh oh!’  Which comes in handy since you are always throwing food on the floor or falling down.

You say dada, ball and *sometimes* mama.

If we say ‘Yay!’ you start applauding.

And here are a few photos that capture my boys as they are today.  In this moment.

Ohhhhhhh!

A glimpse of ‘The Point’

This is what a 3-year-old’s Joy looks like.  Or, my 3-year-old, at least.

Cosquillas, cosquillas.

Some artistic interpretation of ‘See no evil, Hear no evil, Speak no evil’…with green wands

A twofor. THE Xavi smile (in it’s current gums:teeth ratio) AND evidence of why his head sometimes smells like food.

And there you have it.  Who needs baby books when you’ve got blogs, right?  Personally, I feel like I just spent about 7 hours scrap booking.

Now, if they could just slow down how quickly they change their endearingly mispronounced words and awkward new physical skills.

My heart can only take so much.