Learning to Walk

We recognize that our little family is unique in many ways.  Sometimes we forget about those differences, but every once in a while, we are reminded of some of those oddities.  One such difference is the span of time between our oldest and our youngest. 

Pooh Bear is just learning to walk.  It is great fun to celebrate the victory of his little fankenbaby steps around the house.  It is even more fun when he initiates it on his own.  He is a late walker to be sure, but that is partly because he is such a competent crawler (he can crawl as fast as the other children walk) – a classic case of the “good being the enemy of the great.”

On the other book end we have Coco.  He too is learning to walk, but not with franken steps.  He is learning to walk on his own, be his own man, make his own decisions, and have his own family.  Yesterday, he bought a house and in December he and Sweetness will be getting married and they will truly start their new household together.

It is times like these, where we are able to reflect on life, that I really love.  No matter how much we change, we are still growing and still learning to walk.  Some people just have a bigger cheering section, while others are learning to walk in more subtle ways.  In the end, once we conquer the walking, we are able to live life in a completely new, and glorious way.  Like Pooh Bear, we cannot let “the good become the enemy of the great” and not be satisfied with where we are at.  Thankful yes. Satisfied never.

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Blending is fun!

When you live in a blended family it is easy to forget what that might look like to people outside the family.  To the members of the family, all the various colors are completely natural.  However, that is certainly not the norm.  I ran into two funny situations in one week.

Duck, Duck, Duck, Duck, Goose

Earlier in the week I took Curly Girly to her gymnastics class.  Since the kids are on break, I took all of the little ones with me as well.  We had a merry time occupying the waiting area watching her perform various drills in between keeping track of little ones.  When it was time to leave, her teacher held the door and Thunder, P.C. and Curly Girly all filed out.  Bright Eyes was right in front of me while I pushed Pooh Bear in the stroller (that up to that point, he decided he didn’t need).  As we were leaving the instructor asked Bright Eyes where she was going.  Bright Eyes didn’t know because we had not talked about it.  I had only told the children that they needed to load up.  The instructor saw her hesitation and told her that she needed an adult in order to go outside.  I realized at that point that she thought Bright Eyes was escaping and not really with the rest of the family.  I helpfully explained that she was with us and we all trooped out to the van.

The whole encounter was odd, but I didn’t really have time to think on it.  There were hungry kids to feed!  The next morning my waking brain had some time to process the whole event.  That was when it clicked.  Thunder, Curly Girly, P.C. and Pooh Bear, are all my wonderfully toned children.  Bright Eyes, the one who could be the genetic sister of Princess was odd girl out of this group.  Duck, Duck, Duck, Duck and a Goose.  No wonder she thought Bright Eyes was not with us.

Eye Care not a Benefit of your Employment?

In the middle of the week P.C. and I were leaving baseball practice.  B.T.W. if you have not seen kids this young play baseball, you are missing out!  It is almost too much fun.  But I digress. 

After practice, we stopped into a store to see if we could find some caps for his cap gun.  Unfortunately, those are getting increasingly rare and they didn’t have any. However we did find some great deals on some other items.  As we were checking out, the checker (I am not sure what the politically correct term is for a checker, so I am sorry if you were/are one and I didn’t get that right) was enthralled with his little antics.  At one point, she said, “Ah, how sweet, he looks just like you.”  WHAT!?  First, he is far more charming that I ever was, and secondly, we don’t share any features at all, other than being two humans with incredible (and dangerously distracting imaginations).  Aside from the fact that the checker needs a eye exam, I often wonder what they think the backstory of our family is.

As you can see, living in a blended family is a ton of fun.  Not only do we have fun inside the family, we get to have fun with people who cannot figure us out!