Unlikely

Milo's homework instructed him to draw three bears: one large bear, one medium bear, and one small bear. He read the instructions, then asked me, "Does 'B-E-A-R' spell 'bear,' or 'beer'? I'm just not sure which one that spells."

I said that it spelled "bear" and that it I didn't think his kindergarten teacher would ask him to draw pictures of beer because it's a grown-up thing. I kind of wish he hadn't asked me and just assumed it was "beer." What I wouldn't have given to be a fly on the wall as his teacher saw those drawings.

Super Eclipse

Last night we kept the kids up late to watch the lunar eclipse. But not just any lunar eclipse. This was a Super Moon Eclipse Of Wonder, meaning the moon was as close to earth as it ever gets. I think I read on Twitter that it only happens every 18 years, maybe? And the eclipse was happening from around 8:15 - 10:00, with the peak in the 9:30 range, so it wasn't obscenely late.

Of course, I was fascinated and could have stayed out all night watching the moon, but the kids were BORED. And TIRED. Milo kept whining and restlessly wiggling around. Olive sat on my lap and could barely hold her head up. Neither seemed to care much about the moon. But hey, we did our parent-y duty and showed them this awesome bit of science.

One of the highlights was seeing a shooting star right next to the moon (in our line of vision; I know it wasn't technically right next to the moon) as the eclipse was nearly full. So cool. Neither kids saw it, obviously. Another highlight was watching the whole thing at Stan and Marilyn's house. They have bats living nearby, which means hardly any mosquitoes. Plus, Marilyn made us decaf coffee with Bailey's, and that's a win in my book any day.

Sad stuff

Well. Today did not go the way I expected it to. But I suppose nothing ever does, does it? Milo's in kindergarten, and Olive had preschool today, so I planned to spend my free morning sipping coffee, maybe do some gardening (ok, ok, I was going to dump out some dead plants from the pots. "Gardening" might be pushing it.), maybe read my book, maybe go for a walk. Really intense stuff, right? Instead, I got a text from my MIL. She said that her dad had contracted pneumonia, and would probably only live another day or two (he was already on hospice), and would Andrew and I be able to help her move out his furniture if he passed?

Of course, I said. And can I do anything for you now, bring you coffee or something? She and Angie, her stepmother, both accepted my offer of Starbucks, so I headed out for lattes and over to the nursing home. I had only been there a few minutes when he took his last breath. Loved ones of mine have passed away before, but I've never been there to see it. I wasn't even particularly close to John, but it's been a shock to my system to witness the death. I hope I was a comfort to Sarah and Angie, and not in the way. I'm sure they didn't expect me to be there for those last moments, either, and I felt like a bit of an outsider.

We had told the kids a couple weeks ago that John was sick, and that Nana was feeling sad about it. So today I had to explain to them that Nana's dad had died. And then spend forever discussing death, getting old, burials, cremation, and how we miss people when they die. I held it together until about the third hour of these talks, when I was trying to explain what cremation was to a five year old. Then I just sort of gave up, told them to please play outside because Mommy wasn't feeling too good and needed to lie down.

Then Daddy got home, I drank some wine, and he took the kids to the playground. My thoughts tonight are with Angie, Sarah, and the rest of the family. I wish there was more I could do than bring pumpkin spice lattes. Rest in peace, John.

So Proud

Last night Milo had his first tumbling class. It's at the same studio that Olive goes to for her ballet/tumbling combo class, but his is an all-boys class. I was not at all convinced that he would like it or really wanted to be there. I thought he just asked to take tumbling because he wanted to do SOMETHING, and maybe soccer wasn't his favorite.

But after several requests and the start of the 2015-2016 session looming, I signed him up. So glad I did. He loved it. He tried everything, even when things didn't immediately come easy. Somersaults, bear walking, feet-together jumping, stretching. He listened and followed instructions. He talked nicely to the teacher and the other boys. And as I watched him, I saw his little smile, just for him. His I'm-so-proud-of-me smile. His yes-I-can-do-it smile. And I know he was proud of himself. And I know I was proud of him, too.

(Yeah, yeah, I know, it's been over a year since I blogged. Let's not make a big deal about it, eh? I know it is impossible to catch up on the stuff I missed (like Olive's entire life, basically) but since I already can't remember half the things that took place in the last year, I figured there's no time like the present to start this thing up again.)