Bibliophiles

Reading is one of my favorite pastimes. It always has been and always will be. My parents tell tales of me as a toddler making a giant pile of books, going through them one at a time, page by page, and then moving the completed book to a pile on the other side of me. I could happily entertain myself with books for a long period of time, even at a young age. As I got older and learned to read on my own, my love of books and reading only grew. I read voraciously, and I gravitated towards other readers. Lit courses were among my favorites in high school and college, some of my very best friendships have been cemented with books (thinking particularly of Becca and Erin), and my amazing book club in Chicago was among the highlights of my twenties/ early thirties in Chicago. I can even say that Jason reading "The Stranger" by Camus (which I have NOT read!) was one of the (many) things that intrigued and drew me to him early on in our relationship. Reading opens my eyes to the world, to new ideas, to amazing stories. These days, it admittedly takes me a lot longer to get through a book because I can rapidly find myself nodding off during my nighttime reading (which I NEVER used to be able to understand when people would describe that happening to them), but those pages each night are, for me, still one of life's sweetest little luxuries.

All of this is a typical long-winded-Allison way of saying that it is no surprise that I have hoped to raise my children with a sincere love of books and reading. Since birth, our kids have been surrounded by books, and we started library trips long before the age of 1. I get overwhelmed by the amount of toys we own, but I could never fathom being overwhelmed by the amount of books. Both of the kids are read to (or with), religiously, at least twice a day (usually more). And both, at least to this point, seem to be following in my book-loving footsteps...

I am amazed that my little Emmett, at only two years old, can sit and occupy himself at the bookshelf for up to an hour. He sure loves his "boots" (pronounced like books, but with a 't')! Here's what happened recently when mean old Daddy tried to get him to play outside on a beautiful spring day, just when Emmett had gotten himself all comfy with a big stack of 'new' books from Miri's closet.

Among Emmett's favorite and most frequently-requested books are The Pout-Pout Fish, The Little Engine that Could, and his "God book" (The Baby Bible Storybook for Boys).

Miriam also loves to read. She looks forward every month to receiving her Ranger Rick Jr. magazine in the mail. She loves the library, and she cherishes her own large collection of books. And for about the past 6 months, Miri has been officially reading on her own. She is so incredibly proud of herself and just beams when she masters a new book. It truly makes me heart burst with happiness listening to her read. And watching her read books to Emmett is a whole new level of sibling-sweetness! Here is a sweet video of Miriam pretending to be a school teacher and reading a book to her "class" (me and Jason).

Miriam right now is VERY into Mo Willems books, especially his "Pigeon" and "Elephant and Piggie" series, and the "Fancy Nancy" series.

It is just so much fun reading with these kids, and I can't wait for more book adventures with them!

A heartfelt apology

Dear Miriam and Emmett,

This blog was created for two reasons. (1) To share pictures, news, and stories with our family and friends and (2) To serve as a virtual baby book and ongoing 'love letter' to you. Despite my very apparent failure with this blog, I think we've actually succeeded in meeting that first objective. Between in-person time (which is always the best but, of course, not always possible!), phone calls, Skype, texts (often including photos), emails, YouTube, and Facebook, I think we keep our family pretty on top of your latest and greatest.

As to the second purpose of the blog... I must just apologize. We have dropped the ball over the past 15 months or so. We've obviously failed to blog so much. It is much too much to catch it all up on here. There is always going to be a gaping hole on this blog, and for that, I am sorry.

It's not for lack of love or of amazing things to write about you. On the contrary. I will never be able to put into words the magnitude of our love for you, our pride for you, the amount of happiness you bring us. I think the only way you'll ever know is when (hopefully!) you become parents yourselves. You just can't imagine. You make Daddy and I laugh like no one else. I think your father and I say "Oh my gosh, Miri/ Emmett is so cute" at least 10 times a day about each of you. You are both insanely good company the vast majority of the time. There are also, admittedly, plenty of moments of immense frustration and of utter exhaustion. But I am aware (sometimes not in the moment but always afterwards) that even those tough times are so formative- for you and maybe even more for us. You two have made me into a better, stronger, more self-confident, less judgmental, more kind and generous person. Can you imagine that? I am raising you... and in so many ways, you are helping me grow into the best person I can be.

So I apologize for my negligence of this blog. But I hope that someday you'll truly remember the actual moments we've spent together over the past year, and the joys of those memories will let you forgive me for not writing about them here.

And we are going to try to do better!

Emmett is ONE!

Jason and I thought that Miriam's first year went by quickly... but Emmett's first year was like a blink.  It's hard to believe that this little guy is already a year (okay, by now he's actually 15 months), yet, at the same time, it is getting hard to truly remember life as a family of 3 (and even crazier to consider that these beautiful children were once only the stuff of dreams).

Emmett has taught me a lot over the course of the past year.  I worried so much, prior to his birth, about how on earth I could love a second child as much as Miriam.  Everyone told me that I would, and I guess I believed that... but there was a little part of me that wondered if I might just always love her a teeny bit more. Well, Emmett, you can rest assured that I love you every smidgen as much.  I think it was actually easier to fall instantly in love with him the second he was born because I didn't have that scary, overwhelming feeling of "OMG... I am responsible for keeping this child alive, growing, healthy, nurtured, loved, mentally stimulated, etc etc etc."  I knew we could do it.  We knew the ropes (well, at least some of them), and we knew at this point that we are good parents.  So a lot of that early fear and pressure was absent, leaving more room for instantaneous joy.  This was not to say that the first year was easy.  It never is, but Emmett, you really did give us a run for the money with your reflux and colic.  There were a handful of days that I got literally less than an hour of sleep in a 24 hour period.  2-3 hours of sleep total in a 24 hr period was pretty much the norm until he was 3 months, at which time I was able to get a whopping 4-5 hrs total in a day. Buddy, when you are a growing teenage boy who just wants to sleep in until 11 AM every Saturday and Sunday as a teenager, I hope you will remember the extreme fatigue that Dad and I suffered through for you as a baby and come give us big, tight, unexpected hugs as a thank-you.  :)  Sleep  deprivation not withstanding, Emmett's been a pretty easy baby to raise, thus far.  Like Miri, he's temperamentally quite easygoing and good-natured.  Emmett smiled early and often.  He has the most contagious grin of anyone I know.

An early smile...

Goofy grin

Happy boy!

Besides being happy most of the time, other words I would use to describe Emmett include inquisitive, intelligent, persistent, and gentle.  He has a very keen interest in discovering the world around him.  My mom always says that she thinks Emmett is going to be an engineer, and I can see why she thinks that.  Even before age 1, you could see that he wants to know HOW things work, WHY things work, and he wants to master the world he lives in.  And when he is interested in something, that's where the "persistence" comes in.  Miri has always been relatively easy to redirect from things.  As a baby, if I didn't want her touching something or going somewhere, I could show her another toy or close the door to a room.  Emmett can be rather difficult to deter.  You can't just close a door... you have to pull that thing so tight until you hear a click, because he will stand there and push at it.  You take an object from him and try to replace it with something else... well, you better be ready for his indignant response.  At times, this facet of Emmett's personality can be a little tough to deal with, but I think it's going to serve him really, really well in life.  Despite Emmett's tendency to know what he wants and to go for it full-throttle, he's also very gentle, both physically and emotionally.  You can see this child has empathy already.

So Emmett, that's who you are at one, and we love you sooooooo much.  You have stolen the hearts of your family.  Thank you for being just who you are.

And here are some very belated pictures from your fiesta de cumpleanos.  Your day started with a Bashaw family birthday tradition... donuts!  Your very first donut, in fact.  You loved it... guess you are indeed a Bashaw.  :)

You played with Miri, Mommy, and Daddy much of the day.  This included grudgingly playing the maraca in a parade...

while your big sister was the parade leader... with a drum over her head.

Later, Gammy and Boppa joined us for presents, dinner, and of course, dessert.  Miri was happy to help you open presents.  You received many great gifts, but you were still of the opinion that wrapping paper, bows, and envelopes are more fun.

For dinner, we had ranch chicken enchiladas, beans, and rice.  Around this age, you were a pretty picky eater, but my ranch chicken enchiladas were a surprising hit with you.  We kept your first birthday cake pretty simple... don't worry, buddy, we will make sure you have more "fun" cakes in the future when you have some discernible favorites.

It was a lot of fun to watch you devour your very first taste of birthday cake.  You were tentative for a very few seconds, before cautiously poking it with one tiny finger, which quickly progressed to giant fistfuls of cake.  Like Mommy and Miri (and even Daddy too), I think you are going to have quite the sweet tooth.

You are so loved, Emmett, by your family, friends, and teachers.  I can't wait to see what this next year brings!

And I must include your vital stats for 12 months.  At your 1-year well baby check, you were 31" long (87th percentile) and 19 lbs 6.5 oz (21st percentile).

Christmas 2013

Well, it's now March, and I'm only 2+ months behind!  But I really wanted to get in at least a few quick words and pictures about the Christmas season!  Christmas seems to get more and more fun each year, and we had a lot of fun with the holiday season this year.

Tuppin the Elf returned on 12/1 and was with us through Xmas Eve until Santa picked him up and took him back to the North Pole.  Tuppin had a lot of goofy capers this year!  As the kids get older, Tuppin is developing more of a personality and showing his silly side.  Here are just a few pics:

The kids met Santa. Miri did great.  Emmett.... well, let's just say that it changed our previously-held viewpoint that he was fearless and completely lacked stranger anxiety.  We actually saw Santa twice-- first at school the evening of the Xmas program and another time at his workshop in Cedarburg.  For time #2, we did not torture Emmett by putting him on Santa's lap.  See, we're good parents!  ;)

Christmas Eve and Christmas Day... the "main events"... soooo much fun!  On Christmas Eve, we went to mass at St. Boniface.  Father Loyola always invites the kids up to the front for the homily and involves them.  Jason and I were floored when Miri saw all the other kids going up to the front and announced she was going too.  She is a bit reserved by nature, so we were truly very shocked.  She walked up the aisle and sat up there all by herself.  I believe she was very likely the youngest of the probably 30-40 kids up there by a solid year.  Later, she was told us that she was disappointed when Father Loyola didn't call on her to answer any of his questions about Christmas.  She thinks she's such a big girl (and I guess she kind of is)!  After church, Gammy, Boppa, and Aunt Mary came back home with us for dinner, cookies, and some good family time.

 
Christmas morning was a blast!  Miriam and Emmett must have been good kids this year, because Santa was very generous.  As were our families.  Everyone received many wonderful gifts!  It was really fun to see Miriam so excited to have received gifts she had asked for (namely, a flashlight from Santa... she was a bit disappointed that it wasn't purple as requested but was accepting of the note that Santa left explaining that the purple-flashlight-painting elf had been out sick, so he'd left a multi-colored one for her instead).  Emmett, like most babies his age, was more impressed by wrapping paper to tear (and try to eat) and boxes to climb on.  :)

After gifts and a yummy breakfast at home, we headed over to Gammy and Boppa's for more extended family time.  In addition to Gammy, Boppa, and Aunt Mary, we got to have some time with Adam, Rochelle, Kaden, and Charlotte.  Miriam is extremely enamored with her big cousin Kaden and so looks forward to getting to spend time with her in particular.  For some reason, I have very few pictures from Gammy and Boppa's house on Xmas Day, but I'll share a few from the day after Christmas when the kids and I were able to get in some extra play time with Boppa, Gammy, Aunt Mary, Adam, Kaden, and Charlotte.

It was a beautiful Christmas, and I look forward to so many, many more.