aerik

Do you remember those great converstations you frequently had in your early 20s? And all the rest of the excitement and drama? I've been thinking that it doesn't really change that much. Sure, things slow down a bit - you get a lot more serious, or at least you're serious more often. Maybe (hopefully!) the drama calms down some. But a lot of the basic stuff is still there. Really, I think what's missing (or greatly diminished) is the newness - the excitement of all the new experiences.

I had "poker night" with "the guys" and we reminisced a lot, which is typical. And I was thinking about how what's important in your life stays constant: it's the people. As you get older, one thing that generally changes is that you get better about goals - you kind of have to, becuase you're doing important things (like raising kids). And with that, you de-emphasize some other things, I think.

Something that doesn't change is that you can start thinking you're pretty wise at 2am, when maybe you're just full of crap. But, it's good to try. And, I've realized that even if nobody ever reads this junk, it's good for me to write it, and it's good for me to read my old junk once in awhile.

"Dear future me,
Please take care of yourself and the people you love. Don't get so caught up in the goals that you forget what those goals are really for in the first place. Connect with people, be present. Take the time to record memories and to learn and share. Remember that while 'magic' may only be that which you can't explain, life and the very fabric of the universe are truly magical. What's important does not change."

Kids are just constantly wonderful and amazing. Some times are more memorable than others, and there are times you just try to get through, too. I think that being a parent is the hardest, and one of the most important, jobs that there is. Today we had some pretty hard realizations that we are probably letting Eli down in a couple of areas, with regards to teaching him and giving him exposure to social situations. This is really not surprising - taking a hard look at our own habits and personalities this is pretty easy to see. Doing something about it may be harder. I had this thought (which I may follow up on) that perhaps I can apply some of my job skills (quality tools) to this.

Regardless of our real and imagined shortcomings, Eli and Ben are doing amazing things. Eli is constantly coming up with new ideas and undertandings. He is starting to do addition and subtraction, and is getting better and better at recognizing written letters and numbers (one of the areas where we should probably spend more time actively teaching him). Last week (I think), he and "Auntie Suzie" were counting; Eli got to 10 and Suzie asking what came after 10. Eli said, "ten-thirty". He's getting pretty good at telling time.

Ben doesn't often like to eat dinner. Last night I asked him if he wanted a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. He said, "No." So I asked him if he wanted pizza. "No." I reiterated his choice another couple of times, but still "No." So I asked him if he did not want to eat dinner. He said, "mm, yeah!" I told him that I've always suspected that he understands everything we say, and now I'm becoming convinced.

So, I tried to get him to say, "I love you". He's never quite managed to pronounce it. I said "Say, 'I love you'" a few times. He said it! So I told him I loved him and gave him a big hug. He said, "I love you moon". Joann realized that this was almost certainly a reference to "Guess How Much I Love You", a book we've been reading and a game Eli has been enjoying playing with us for the last couple of weeks. Amazing.