Baby on the Brain

For those of you who actually read my blog (yea, the 6 of you plus my family), you're familiar with Drew's interest, ummm I mean OBSESSION with having a baby sister. I realized as the arrival of his best friend's little sister was rapidly approaching that the situation was only going to get worse. Now that Gracey is a week old, I can assure you, my little monkey is determined not to be left out of this wonderful experience of having a younger sibling.

Many of you know that Drew's quest for a little sister started about a year ago when he would inexplicably cry as we left Target or Wal-Mart. Finally, I asked him what was wrong and got the answer, "My wan baby sistewr" (this coming from a child not yet two). We realized he thought that you could go to Target or Wal-mart to buy a sister; which, considering the fact that we bought everything else there, was not an unusual assumption.

Slowly, he began to get more and more persistent. He would ask me for a baby sister, he would ask Jesse, at night he would take his request to God. Super cute and super determined.

Last week, he took his petition to a whole new level. As we would meet new people, he would introduce himself, "Hi! My name is Drew. I'm two and my birthday is in August AND I don't have a puppy OR a baby sister yet." Clearly, these poor people were slightly at a loss as to what they should say (I know I would have been). Just as clear, was Drew's certainty that if Mom and Dad wouldn't listen to his wishes then he would take his case to the streets. When Ashlee and Jim came over and brought Gracey with them, Drew looked down enviously at that sweet girl and then informed Ashlee, "Its ok. I'm having a baby sister very soon too." We laughed, tried to explain that it wasn't that simple and hoped it sunk in. However, today he decided to take it a step further. While checking out at the library and catching up with a friend, Drew loudly announced, "I'm going to be a big brother! Mommy is going to have a baby and its a girl!" I quickly had to correct the staff and my friend as they offered their congratulations. If a person could talk something into existence, this kid would be a pro!

I'm hoping that he will have a sibling on the way at some point in the near future (we'll deal with the whole baby sister vs. baby brother then) and our plan to adopt a puppy at the end of the summer may serve to temporarily distract him. In the meantime, if any of you receive a phone call from a certain precocious little man informing you that I'm going to have a baby, think nothing of it. He probably stole the phone and started calling people in his determination to make his wish come true...at this point, I wouldn't put it past him.

Small Town Pleasures

As summer is timidly trying to make its appearance here in Columbus, I'm realizing more and more just how blessed we are. Aside from the fact that our adorable little town is most definitely North of the Mason-Dixon line (which I am slowly adjusting to), it is very much the place I've always dreamed of raising children.

Today Drew discovered the small town joy of the ice cream truck, driven by a sweet old lady that ohh-ed and ahh-ed over him as he picked out his treat. Those ice cream trucks use to creep me out beyond belief...perhaps it was the sleazy male driver vaguely resembling someone I had seen on the 6:00 news, combined with the 15 passenger van providing a prime opportunity for the kidnapping of unsuspecting children. Columbus is completely different though. In part, due to the sweet old lady and the fact that her truck is a converted golf cart with coolers on the back certainly doesn't hurt.

Of course, Columbus in general feels such a wholesome and simplistic place. This is the town where almost no one locks their house (even when they aren't home) and where 6 year olds bike to the park on their own and play for hours. A friend and I joke that you could even leave your car windows down, keys in the ignition, doors unlocked and in the event of a rain shower, someone would come along and roll the windows up for you (another friend recently confirmed this to be true). Cyclists and pedestrians abound here and the majority of the town seems to be on a first name basis.

So, while I may not be in my beloved South and while I may occasionally have to do battle with less than thrilling temperatures (today's high is somewhere around 60), we have found a place we call home and can only hope to be so blessed as to raise our family here.

Little Rascal meets Sesame Street

For the past few days, Drew has been basking in the glory of a new house with a front AND back yard, sidewalk and tree lined streets, dirt piles waiting to be landscaped, landscaping to "help" with and a multitude of other new things to discover. As he rides his bike around the block at ever increasing speeds, exulting in his torment of fenced in neighborhood dogs, he looks (and sounds) ever bit the part of a Little Rascal. When he careens to the park, taking turns that make training wheels a mute point and meets up with a crowd of preschoolers to play with, I half expect him to start talking like Spanky. Then suddenly, he tilts his head back and sings, "Its a sunny day and it is warm! I'm riding my bike and we're going to the park." He turns and says, "Oh Mommy! Isn't it a pewrfect summer day to ride my bike to the park?" Wholesome goodness that falls nothing short of Sesame Street! Of course, then it becomes necessary to rub ample amounts of dirt on his body and into his hair in order to insure a bath in his gigantic clawfoot tub. There he can splash and make waves while he tells serious tales about the day's, "Abentures".

His tractors have some serious landscaping work on their hands!

He's convinced (and won't take no for an answer) that this tree has been struck by lightening.

He watched Daddy build this swing for the backyard. He kept telling us, "I get a swing all my own self!"

Look out Columbus!