{"id":616,"date":"2015-06-17T06:00:37","date_gmt":"2015-06-17T06:00:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/family.ohsweetday.com\/?p=616"},"modified":"2016-07-22T23:00:58","modified_gmt":"2016-07-22T23:00:58","slug":"spring-2015","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/family.ohsweetday.com\/index.php\/2015\/06\/17\/spring-2015\/","title":{"rendered":"Spring 2015"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Dear Ethan and Maya,<\/p>\n

Here came June, meaning spring was over and we are heading into summer. But wait! Haven\u2019t we been having summer for the past month already? And that\u2019s right! The weather has been so nice and warm that it felt like spring wasn\u2019t here at all. Over the past weekend, we couldn\u2019t wait and put out the water slide and you both with our neighbour\u2019s kids spent the whole afternoon in the backyard soaking in the sun. And I\u2019ve started to worry about how we keep it up until September because by next week you will start to get bored. And we will all die!<\/p>\n

That\u2019s true. The thing about boredom! An incurable disease that hits kids especially hard. \u201cDo we have to drive for a long time to get there?\u201d This question pretty much sums up why a year ago your father decided to put an iPad in the car so you could watch shows on the road. There were \u201cAre we there yet?\u201d and \u201cHow much longer?\u201d and more \u201cAre we there yet?\u201d and then \u201cI\u2019M SO BORED!\u201d and then more \u201cHow much longer?\u201d and more \u201cWhy is it taking so long?\u201d And it was just before we started the car.<\/p>\n

As adults we have lived enough life to understand that having a long ride is pretty low on the level of devastating circumstances. But kids? Staying in the car for more than 5 MINUTES is worse than dying in a shark attack.<\/p>\n

But last month I decided to take that damn thing out of the car after you finished all the episodes that your father had uploaded. So what do you do now? Kick! Kicking has become one of your major activities in the car. And it makes sense considered when strapped in car seats, you can probably only maneuver your legs to reach and destroy things when arms are not long enough. After weeks of kick fighting and having my seat kicked at the back, we\u2019ve started to be able to talk about the buildings and people on the road, take a nap or listen to some music.<\/p>\n

Before summer started, I hoped we could have a chance to pause and put ourselves back together after a busy spring. Hockey, dance, swimming, golfing, skating, baseball, all these activities that filled up your time when you were not in school. A lot of \u201cI don\u2019t wanna go!\u201d, \u201cI don\u2019t wanna play in the rain!\u201d, \u201cIt\u2019s too sweaty!\u201d, \u201cWhy I never get to be the goalie, mom?!\u201d Yes, complains! Complains about five-minute drive to the gas station. About too sunny outside. About not sunny outside. About too bored staying home but too much fun doing activities. Plain complains that don\u2019t do us any justice considered the amount of pick-ups and drop-offs that we have to do.<\/p>\n

I never like to hear you whine. No parents do! But sometimes it also comes with \u201cMom, I can\u2019t sleep. I wanna go to the tournament now!\u201d, \u201cTWO GOALS! I scored two goals today!\u201d \u201cWhoa! I had my first home run!\u201d \u201cYeah! Baseball tomorrow! I love baseball! I wish it\u2019s tomorrow now!!!\u201d And then every minute Maya, you would ask, \u201cIs now tomorrow?\u201d And when I\u2019d tell you that it wasn\u2019t until you sleep and wake up again, you\u2019d let out a huge sigh, one so dramatic that I would think that you\u2019d just been spared a death sentence. And then I know I have to feel gratified that we were able to give you that feeling.<\/p>\n

\"ethan\"maya<\/p>\n

Ethan, you lost your first tooth over the past few months. A lot of your friends have lost a multitude of teeth by this age. Like they have already had their grown-up teeth, and your baby teeth were still around not wanting to go anywhere soon. Except sometimes you would come up with some imaginary tooth wiggling scenarios hoping this was actually happening. And then we would all go, \u201cNo! It\u2019s not going to happen until you\u2019re twenty.\u201d<\/p>\n

Therefore when I picked you up at spring camp the other day, you came running to me with your mouth open, and I saw a big hole between your teeth, I didn\u2019t know how to react. Did you finally tie a string to that tooth and give the other end to Maya and let nature takes it course? Because you simply could not wait! Turned out that tooth magically fell out when you were playing basketball. I am glad that you didn\u2019t swallow it because as far as I know tooth fairy doesn\u2019t visit toilet.<\/p>\n

A few days after basketball played its magic, another tooth started to take its action. One night over dinner your father noticed that you were fiddling with your loose tooth. The same loose tooth that he has threatened to yank for the past few days. So TEETH PULLING, an activity that I would happily turn down if given the choice between that and fighting a shark attack. Only the thought of a tooth root tearing out of the gum\u2026OH MY GOD! So when your father asked me to feel your tooth to see how loose it was, I was all I TRUST YOUR JUDGEMENT. You are in charge of this one!<\/p>\n

Your father wiggled the tooth back and forth. At first it seemed like it wasn\u2019t time, maybe it needed a few more days to loosen up a bit more. We waited to see if dinner would move things along, and twenty minutes after your usual bedtime we were all in the bathroom \u2013 me, you sitting on the bathroom countertop facing your father, Maya there as our cheering squad. You winced and grimaced and my dinner danced in my throat as your father feverishly twisted and pushed and pulled and coaxed. Finally, one last tug\u2026 BOOM! A tiny tooth sat in his hand. It was over! And you looked in the mirror in disbelief. You mouth was full of blood. Your breathing was so heavy as if you were on the verge of crying.<\/p>\n

\u201cEthan, are you okay?\u201d I asked, worried you were freaking out at the sight of blood. You didn\u2019t answer me for a few second, then you finally turned your head to look at me. \u201cWhat? Me? I\u2019m totally fine!\u201d Like what did you do today, Mom? I just lost a tooth AND I\u2019M STILL STANDING!<\/p>\n

It was forty-five minutes later \u2013 I AM NOT EVEN KIDDING, FORTY PLUS FIVE MINUTES OF MY LIFE LOST TO THAT DAMN TOOTH! Also, I was thinking\u2026would it be tacky to collect all your teeth so that eventually I could arrange them in a neat little pattern and then glue them to a mirror like seashells? Because think how you would be convinced to have children if you knew that you had something like that to look forward to.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

I\u2019ve said it here many times that, Maya, you are at your happiest when allowed to change outfits at least four times a day. A four-year-old who is very picky about which pants she wants to wear with which shirt. And it\u2019d better be a dress because DRESSES ARE AWESOME! Every day you ask, \u201cWhere am I going tomorrow?\u201d And when I tell you that I haven\u2019t figured it out yet, you will go, \u201cOkay, phew! I haven\u2019t picked out what I\u2019m going to wear yet!\u201d<\/p>\n

Over the past month I was cleaning out your closet for summer. You were pretty excited when you saw your collection of summer dresses. Except you started to get frustrated after you tried them on because all the dresses I bought last summer are now hitting you about three to four inches above your knees. You pointed toward your almost fully exposed thighs and ask, \u201cWhy is it so short?!\u201d<\/p>\n

Why is it so short?! Oh god. You weren\u2019t ever supposed to reach this stage in your life. You were going to be a little girl and I\u2019d never have to explain what an \u201cunderwire\u201d is. This makes me want to call my mom and ask her how in the hell she survived it when I first had my period.<\/p>\n

\u201cMaya,\u201d I answered. \u201cIt\u2019s called \u2018growing\u2019 and it happens to everyone. That\u2019s why you\u2019ve grown so much taller now.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAre you sure? That\u2019s A LOT!!!\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t know. Maybe not,\u2019 I said as I closed my eyes. \u201cActually I\u2019ve been secretly shrinking your clothes because getting both of you ready and out of the house in the morning wasn\u2019t chaotic enough.\u201d<\/p>\n

Yeah! You\u2019re right! Maya, that\u2019s A LOT!!! A lot longer legs and arms. I\u2019ve always wondered why it looks like you are growing your brother\u2019s growth because you both are almost the same size. And people who first met you both would ask me, \u201cSo who\u2019s older again?\u201d<\/p>\n

\"IMG_3919\"\"IMG_7570\"<\/p>\n

And the truth is that you both are getting along more like best friends than siblings. You both hang out a lot. A LOT! You play together, eat together, do things together. You simply enjoy being together. One fantastic thing about it is that you both seem to look forward to going to school together which is happening very soon. And I simply cannot stop dreaming about one pick-up and one drop-off. JUST ONE! ONE! And Maya, you will stop asking me \u201cAm I going to Ethan\u2019s school today?\u201d and just be there as long as your childhood takes you. Since the day we pulled you out from daycare, you haven\u2019t stopped assuming that you are going to school with Ethan right after. You can\u2019t wait! You know all the teachers, kids and parents. When we pick up Ethan together, you run through the school hallway, playground, class rooms. You know the school. You are ready and excited to know what\u2019s going on inside.<\/p>\n

\"IMG_8241\"\"IMG_8240\"<\/p>\n

We are two weeks away from school being out and ready to enjoy the early arrival of this summer. Camping, biking, swimming, BBQ parties, more biking and more swimming. Wrinkle toes, tan lines, sunscreen, damp beach towels, wet feet, dripping pony tails\u2026another break before school starts again.<\/p>\n

The other day I asked your brother if he would take care of you at school, he said he would play with you if he couldn\u2019t find his friends. And in fact you\u2019ve told me the same thing. I take it as at the end you know who to look for when no one is there for you.<\/p>\n

Love,
\nMommy<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Dear Ethan and Maya, Here came June, meaning spring was over and we are heading into summer. But wait! Haven\u2019t we been having summer for the past month already? And…Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1549,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"image","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7,2,6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-616","post","type-post","status-publish","format-image","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-daughter","category-letters","category-son","post_format-post-format-image"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/family.ohsweetday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/616","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/family.ohsweetday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/family.ohsweetday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/family.ohsweetday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/family.ohsweetday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=616"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/family.ohsweetday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/616\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1556,"href":"https:\/\/family.ohsweetday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/616\/revisions\/1556"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/family.ohsweetday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1549"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/family.ohsweetday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=616"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/family.ohsweetday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=616"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/family.ohsweetday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=616"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}