Because Spring is worth shouting about. Spring is dance-party worthy. Spring warrants popsicles and First Birthday Berry Birthday Cakes and just-a-jacket-not-a-snowsuit kind of outerwear.
Spring is The Thing.
- Evelyn is One. Um, hello? How did that happen? The calendar tells me that it was just a year ago that on one very dark and stormy morning, she came sliding into the world and snuggled right into the warmth of our family. She is our proverbial cherry on top. She screeches when we're too slow delivering whatever she might like, she tries to make a run for it at bedtime (though she's still a crawler), she scrunches her nose when she giggles, and she babbles at length once she feels she's gotten to know you. I made her a little dress for her first birthday party and was so pleased with how it turned out! Never short on sibling assistance, her biggest brother helped her blow out the single candle atop her chocolate layer cake frosted with vanilla buttercream and decorated with mounds of blackberries and raspberries. She rather enjoyed every last crumb of it, too, thankyouverymuch. She is spoiled rotten with kisses and attention and hand-me-downs and love. In my next lifetime, I think I'd like to be the third child. It seems to be a pretty sweet spot.
- Easter was fun! We had our annual Cinnamon Roll indulgences and egg hunts (and then did a reverse hunt in which Christopher and Colin re-hid all the eggs and demanded the adults go find them...). The weather was dry enough for walks to the park and library. Then it got rainy. Really rainy. Darn Spring. But today it is dry and green. Nevermind that the wind blew part of the fence down last night. Oh, Spring.
- The afternoon playground scene is Back On. It's so easy to fall back in love with our city and our neighborhood and our lifestyle when the weather lets us go back outdoors. We've become friends with several families in the surrounding blocks thanks to our preschool being 3 blocks away and our daily treks to the park. Just down the block is the epicenter for all 4pm "chance" encounters since that's where the park entrance is located. There are between 5-8 little boys that regularly carouse up and down the block on their bikes/scooters/trikes, chalking (tagging, really) names and rainbows and hopscotch and drawing various flying contraptions all over the sidewalk. They run in a pack like a litter of puppies ranging in age from 2.5 years to 5.5 years. There are also two darling baby girls who crawl and squeal to each other in delight as their brothers zip by every few minutes. Helmets askew, blowing bubbles, requesting snacks and one-more-pretzel-please, racing down the street to wave and shout at the yellow ice cream truck as he taunts them with that obnoxious song blaring to all the sugar-crazy children and all the eye-rolling "I-don't-have-any-money" moms. We sit in the sun chatting about kids and schools and lives before kids and lives after kids while we're interrupted every 5 seconds by our lives WITH kids, somebody offers to brew a quick pot of coffee to get us through the last push of the day, the kids are scooting until the last sliver of sun is behind the house/garage/tree and then we start glancing at our phones (because no one wears a watch anymore!)... 5 'o clock. Where are the bubbles/sweatshirts/water bottle/babies??? Time to round them up and head home to get dinner ready.
It reminds me of summers from my own childhood. I feel so totally and completely privileged to be having this same experience a second time in my life, but now as a parent rather than a kid. Make no mistake: Mike and I work hard for this. To that end, I hope my kids remember these long days of light when they rode bikes at the park with their neighborhood friends until their moms made them come inside for dinner just before the dads got home. I don't think I'll want this forever for myself (these little kids get bigger and move on!), but for now, it is unbelievably wonderful. I am thankful.
