Every night when I lie down for bed I begin to think of all the things that happened that day that I don't want to forget. In the moment, forgetting them seems like an impossibility. But, as the passage of time and the failing of my memory, prove, forgetting them is far more possible than it is the opposite. And so I promise myself that I will write them down on the blog and then another day passes and I have failed to commit to print what remains so momentarily within my consciousness. So, here is a short list of things I do not want to forget:
1. Simon bites his nails. I realize that this is a habit that one should dissuade but it is incredibly cute when it is done by a three-year-old. He is genuinely biting his nails but he looks like he's been instructed by an acting coach to pretend he's scared by biting his nails. I will have to make sure to get a photo of this.
2. Sarah's bouquets: Sarah loves to pick both wildflower bouquets and bundles from my garden. She has an eye for beauty, proportion and form and I find lovely bouquets distributed throughout the house. She also tells me that flowers never meant much to her but because of my flower garden, she doesn't think she could live without flowers. Mission accomplished.
3. Ben teaching Matthew to ride a bike. Ben's great passion is long-distance biking and he grew understandably frustrated that we had yet to teach Matthew to bike especially as Matthew's 6th birthday is tomorrow. So, this week Ben tuned up the remaining John Deere bike as Matthew and Simon watched avidly from the sidelines. Then Ben, with the patience and gentleness of Ben, taught Matthew to bike night after night until we were finally summoned outside to watch as Matthew rode down the street with Ben yelling, "Look forward! Look forward!" I got home from Pembroke last night at around 9pm and Matthew and Ben were still outside working on bikes and practising with short trips down the driveway.
4. Along the same lines, Ben rode in his first 97 km bike tour last Sunday. Mathew has grown so used to watching Ben watch the Tour de France on the internet that Matthew asked Ben if he would be able to watch Ben on the computer and if there would be cameras along the route.
5. Joe cutting Ben's hair. This is just one of those memories that stirs my heart because cutting hair was always my task and it is both relieving and heartwarming to have someone else shoulder part of the burden. It's also simply beautiful to watch brothers side by side joking with one another while performing a task. Also, these two were little boys for so long and now they are undeniably young men, and particularly fine ones at that.
6. Mariana's body movements. How to describe these? They are unexpected and make me laugh and reveal a drama within this little girl that I was unaware of. She moves like my maternal grandmother and seems to have the same penchant for drama that comes down from the Thomas side. I often feel like I'm watching a swan mature.
7. Simon is in the stage where he doesn't use the pronoun I. Instead he says me love dat instead of I love that. My particular favourite is when he says, "Me want something to eat." And then he asks for more, "Me want something other to eat."
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