In Word

I remember asking lots of questions when I was younger—mainly in a last-chance effort to put off bedtime.  Stalling by asking why the sky is blue seemed like a pretty brilliant strategy.

But when it comes to “why,” two-year-old Hayden has me beat.  That child can fit more “why’s” in a conversation than I ever would have thought possible.

Me: “Stay on the driveway, please!”

Hayden: “Why?”

Me: “So I can see you.”

Hayden: “Why?”

Me: “Because I don’t want you to get hurt.”

Hayden: “Why?”

Me: “Because…I want you to say safe.”

Hayden: “Why?”

Things get rather circular from then on out.  Apparently, in a two-year-old’s eyes, everything in life has a big question mark after it.

Hayden: “Mama cat!”

Me: “Yeah, she is.”

Hayden: “Why?”

Me: “Well..because she has babies.”

Hayden: “Why?”

Me: “Those are her kittens.”

Hayden: “Why?”

Me: “She…had kittens?”

Hayden: “Why?”

Me: *silence*

See what I mean?

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Hayden,

I love holding your hand.

I love it when you ask to sit in my lap.

I love how you wrap your arms around your baby sister.

I love the way you smile when you’re doing something you shouldn’t be doing.

I love it when you run up to me and hug my leg after I’ve been away from home.

I love how you come into my room every evening to say “good night.”

I love the way you say “I love you,” and it sounds like “I lub you.”

I love the way you say “Thank you, Bef.”

I love you.

Ruth,

I love it when you wrap your fingers around mine.

I love the way you laugh when I tickle your stomach.

I love seeing you hold out your arms for me to pick you up.

I love watching you learn to walk, and holding your hands and walking with you.

I love the way you hug your blanket when you fall asleep.

I love it when you lay your head on my shoulder.

I love dressing you up in adorable clothes.

I love showing you off to all my friends.

I love your beautiful smile.

I love you.

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Have any of you bloggers ever caught yourself thinking that life is just too busy to blog?  I have.  Sometimes, life just plain gets in the way.

Then I stop.  And laugh.  And realize how ridiculous that is.

What would a blog be without a life behind it, anyway?

Snowfall in Texas?  Major news story.

All that to say, my life is keeping me rather busy lately.  Hayden and Ruth have been with us for more than three weeks now—isn’t that amazing?  It’s hard to get into a routine, but we’re managing somehow.  Hayden has settled in to pretty much everything except eating.  Apparently he likes McDonalds, but not much else.  Ruth is popular wherever she goes, and not surprisingly—that child continues to astound me with her adorableness.

Speech and debate is much the same as usual.  Still fun, still busy, still amazing.  In less than two weeks, we head to New Mexico for our last qualifier of the year.  I’m looking forward to a fabulous tournament…not to mention a pretty epically long car trip.

It’s cold and white.  What is this stuff?

Next week, my sister has her first photography gig shooting a wedding out of town.  I get to be the backup photographer.  That means I get to spend the next few days learning the ins and outs of my borrowed Canon 30d.

There’s also this thing called school work, but we won’t talk about that.

What can I say?  Life is in the way.  But I’m cool with that.

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Tonight, our family grew a little bit bigger, a little bit louder, and a whole lot cuter.  It might be a brief change, or it might stick around for awhile—but however long it lasts, I’m going to enjoy it.

We started working on our foster care license last fall, but didn’t get everything done till this past week.  And just today, we got a call that two little kids needed a home: Hayden, a toddler, and Ruth, a baby (no, those aren’t their actual names, but they’ll work for the purposes of this blog).

Hayden and Ruth came home with us this evening.  I’m not sure what I was expecting, but I’m pretty sure it wasn’t this.  Little Hayden had a hard time at first—I can only imagine how confusing all this would be for a child.  He didn’t say much at the beginning, but by the time we got to the house, he had opened up a little.  As of this writing, he is thoroughly enjoying all the attention (and is completely enamored with our dog).

Ruth is the [almost] perfect baby.  She’s all smiles and giggles, and, of course, doesn’t really care what’s going on as long as it involves interesting toys and room to crawl around.  She found a best buddy tonight: a stuffed teddy bear almost as big as she is.  They hit it off right away.

I am beyond thrilled to have these kids be part of our family, for however long they get to stay.  What an incredible chance to show love to two children who have never experienced it!

…of course, I’m enjoying it, too.

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