It's hard not to sigh and gush when looking at this lovely creation; hard to find the right way to say how thankful we are for a kid who is thankful for his park, thankful for the darkness that allows him to shine a flashlight when walking around the 'hood at night, and thankful for his family, including a mother who towers above the rest and sports wild hair and wilder claws.
That same kid has, for a few weeks now, been fascinated with all things scatological, and at least once each day will sneak away for a few minutes, then come back waving a piece of paper, giggling hysterically and asking us to please look at what he wrote; and what he wrote, invariably, is--
Let it be hereby known that poop and pee are the first words Sava learned to spell. And let it be known also that, when it comes to four-year old boys, nothing is funnier than jokes about bodily functions. We have tried every possible strategy to get him to stop talking about poop and pee, including threatening to serve some of those delectables for dinner (to which his response was, Nooo, mommy!!! I don't want to die! I want my pasta and hotdog!), reading books on the subject in the hopes of making it mundane and boring (Everyone Poops and Where's the Poop? are two great titles for those of you out there in search of similarly esoteric bibliographical information), as well as trying teacher Laura's great advice to send him to the bathroom and tell him to talk to the guy in the mirror who is the only person we know that really wants to hear about poop and pee. Alas...nothing has worked, and we are resigned to the fact that, some time in high school, perhaps, when other functions begin to trump pooping and peeing, he will change the main subject of conversation.
Back to Thanksgiving....We are not thankful for a snotty baby whose erratic sleep in this fragile transitional period known as dropping-two-naps-for-one-but-unable-to-go-on-just-one-without-going-crazy-by-5pm kept us from attending the dinner Thanksgiving party to which we had committed. But we are thankful for the turkey that died in order to supply us with three days of overeating, and we are thankful also for living in a place where, even on a "frigid" Thanksgiving, we can hop over to park after the turkey extravaganza--
We are thankful for two kids who love accessories, among many other things--
And thankful also for two kids who, ever so slowly but lovingly, are learning to spend time around each other--
Thankful for a boy who loves legos above all else, and can spend hours fully occupied (oh, blessed be the day when Raya can do the same...)--
And thankful for best friends who make life so much fuller--
Last but not least, we are thankful for the rain which nurtures the earth and makes for some excellent puddles to walk and ride through--
Raya is obsessed with Sava's scooter and, if not grasping it greedily while someone pushes her, she looks on longingly as he rides it.
We are raising our children without a religion, but we are acutely aware of the need to create traditions that bind them to the seasons and give meaning to the world around them. Thanksgiving is as good an occasion as any to teach them to...well...be thankful for what they have, and cherish each day on this strange ball flung in space called Earth. Life is nothing if not a miracle, and we hope to teach them to appreciate it.
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