November 15th, 2013

In the grand scheme of things learning to ride a two-wheeler isn’t that big of a deal.  There’s learning to drive, graduating from high school, getting married, or having your first baby.  Twenty years from now Rowan is barely going to remember this day, or the moments littered throughout it.  He won’t remember that for two hours he struggled up and down the hill in the parking lot, dirt and tears of frustration streaming down his face, but never once quitting.  He’s not going to remember how he felt when he screamed, “LET GO!” only to realize that I already had, and he had soared down that hill on his own.  He’s not going to remember how he fell, and scraped his knee.  He won’t recall how he sulked off to the side of the road, stomped his foot in indignation-sure that it was his bike that was at fault.  He won’t recall how his mom stifled a laugh when he beamed, “I did it!  I perseveranced and I did it!!  He won’t understand how his mom’s chest nearly burst with the amount of pride she felt at literally letting her son go and watching him hold himself up, all by himself.  He won’t know how tiny and how big she thought he looked at the same time.   He probably won’t remember any of these things…but I will.

Best of Buds

A few days ago Rowan found his soul mate.  It doesn’t matter that there is four years between them, or that he lives a half hour away.  It doesn’t even matter that it’s a he!  All that matters is that Avery has this:

This is only a portion of his (dad’s) collection!  I’m pretty sure that is part of what Rowan’s heaven will look like.

One of the things I love about hanging out with Avery, other than the fact that I get to chat with his mother, is getting to see what Rowan will be like as a big brother some day.  At first there was a little frustration about Avery wanting to move Rowan’s carefully lined up tractors, but after explaining that Avery was too little to understand, something seemed to click.  Rowan became patient and kind, loving and playful.  He gently told Avery, “No thank you, Avery, I’m playing with that.”  Sometimes Avery would move on, but if he didn’t, Rowan would silently plead with his eyes to take that kid somewhere else!  If we didn’t though, he would play with Avery for bit, explaining the parts of the tractor, or what kind of tractor it was.  It was adorable to watch these two tiny men together.

Avery’s first birthday is next week, and he was the lucky recipient of a little slide that they put together while we were at their house.  The slide was great.  The box it came in was better.  Rowan patiently played peek-a-boo with Avery, letting his little friend shut him up in the box time after time.  If Avery wandered off, as one year old’s are prone to do, Rowan would invite him back to play, and they’d giggle as I threatened to ship them to Alaska.

We also went on a hay ride this weekend.  It was a bit chilly, but perfect for warm hats, and wrapping up in quilts.  For an hour we cuddled against a scratchy bale of hay while nibbling goldfish crackers and watching the world pass by.  🙂