Just the Two of Us

What's up, peeps?

Eric and Addie have been in San Diego this weekend, jumping on beds and Lego-landing. Which means Nolie and I have had a chance to hang out at home and get to know one another. Here are a few things I (re-)learned about my youngest, and myself:

1) She is possibly one of the most affectionate people I've ever met. Lord, that girl just wants to hold your hand and walk around with you and give you kisses and hugs.

2) She suffers from the unenviable curse of being second-born, meaning that she has had almost no alone time with me since she was born, and craves it like Liza craves sleeping pills. See #1.

3) I had no idea how easy it was to raise one kid. No idea. But this weekend was so peaceful, so easy, that, jeez, it was like being hit by a ton of bricks, how crazy things normally are. Not that I would have my life any other way (obligatory back-pedalling). I mean, I love both my kids so much it's unreasonable. Husband, too. But, geesh. Having only one kid. If there's an argument to be made for relative experiences, this was it.

4) Nolie is smart as a whip, a whip, I tell you! She is memorizing her books and reading them back to me, and asking really good questions about the world. Well, also some weird ones. Like, we had an extremely long and drawn out conversation yesterday about the differences in pronunciation between "potato" and "tomato." Not differences in the foods, mind you, differences in the pronunciation. It was as exciting as it sounds.

5) She is, physically, one of the tougher kids I've ever met. She bounced off things, smashed through things, knocked into things, and generally should be lying unconscious in a pool of blood right now, what with how BIG she lives in the physical world. She is a miracle of divine engineering, that one. Jesus. But she is also so sensitive, feelings-wise. A harsh word, and her eyes fill up with tears. I cut her bangs and she had a breakdown over the little hairs on the bathroom floor, her little hairs gone forever.

6) She is a gorgeous kid. I found myself staring at her for long minutes and just admiring the roundness of her cheek, her little lips, her long eyelashes. I gush.

Anyway, the oldest and The Pants get home late tonight from San Diego, so I have one more quiet evening with my toddler in my clean house before the whirlwinds strike again. I'll be glad to see them. But it was great, just me and Nolie, too. I hope to do it again some time soon.

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