Gulf Coast Family

Sometimes I still get surprised at how readily my children believe everything they see on TV – even the commercials. Of course, when I think about it, I remember that I was the same way when I was young – I was very easily convinced that Cocoa Pebbles would taste great (they didn’t really) or that the newest toy would provide hours and hours of endless fun. When I was in upper elementary school, I desperately wanted a “My Little Pony” toy, only to discover after a few weeks that the only thing you could do with that silly thing was brush its hair!

I’m pretty sure that I have been a bookworm for my entire life. I can remember as a 4-year-old, insisting that my mom read the story Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel every single time we went to our doctor’s office. Then when I learned to read, I loved reading Dr. Seuss books (Fox in Socks was my favorite) and Disney fairy tales. Soon, I moved on to Little House books and Nancy Drew mysteries.

My youngest daughter, Haylee, just turned three this month, and in the past few weeks, I’ve noticed a significant change in the way she plays. Where most two-year-olds, including Haylee just a few weeks ago, tend to play near, but not with other kids, now she is really enjoying interacting and “pretend playing,” especially with her older sister, Hanna.

“Now that Haylee has started playing more in her style, summer vacation hasn’t been that lonely for Hanna after all!”

“Every few days he’s been asking me how much money he has in his savings account.”

“She wants me to “rock, rock” and sing lullabies to her every night.”

“We have a hard time just keeping up with her, much less keeping a step ahead of her.”

“The love and acceptance that he felt in that home were not romanticized – they were very real.”

“The snowball fight unfortunately isn’t a recognized sport at the real Olympic games.”

I’ve never been one to make official New Year’s Resolutions, but a new year still represents a good opportunity to reflect on bad habits that might need to be eliminated or new habits that might be beneficial to develop. With this in mind, I asked my kids this week if they had any New Year’s resolutions. Once I explained what the word “resolution” means, here are the thoughtful answers I received:

Daniel: I’m going to eat more food (This is coming from the boy who already eats like a small elephant).

After spending exactly one afternoon playing in the cold at ICE! this month, my kids think that the cold weather thing is a cinch, and I must be a complete wimp for telling them that living in a state where cold weather is the norm isn’t as much fun as they think it would be. After all, they survived the 9 degree temperature just fine, and they had a great time doing it.