A Longish Post About A Good Weekend

This last weekend was a really good weekend all 3 days. I like it when that happens.

Friday night we went to my 5 year high school reunion. There was a lot of hub bub about this event and expressions of the lameness of being reunited so soon/at all and that's ok: for some, high school was a terrible experience and they would rather do something much more unpleasant than visit with certain people and return to that place of torture. Which makes me sad because a lot of the people who were saying such things I was hoping to see again.
I was looking forward to going for awhile and I'm really glad that I did. I talked to people that I was really good friends with back in the day and I talked with people that I wasn't close with at all when we were all teenagers. A few things I caught myself thinking during and afterwards:

• Some people never change. But some people do. Not entirely, but some things.
• It's nice to be a grown up. Not always, but it beats being a teenager.
• Let bygones be bygones could never be more applicable than at a high school reunion.
• I forgot how much I like socializing. When you become a mommy you have the tendency to lose track of yourself and the world outside your own home but I was reminded on Friday just how much I like being friendly and talking to different people.
• I have some really good friends. Someone made note of the fact that I'm still really good friends with the same few people I was really good friends with 5 years ago and I think that is the coolest thing. As cheesy as it is, I believe in best friends forever.

some of these good friends I speak of
this picture was taken our senior year

• I love people.
• I have a very supportive husband. He wanted to come with me even after I warned him he'd probably be pretty bored because he didn't know anyone. Silly me though, I forgot that Chris is Chris and he is friendly and likes to talk to people. And he did talk to a few people, but mostly he just let me do my thing and hung out. I felt really bad about this until he pointed out to me that at those times he was able to play with Lynlee and have some time with her. What a softie ;)

Saturday I was able to get crafty after Chris went to work and prepare his Father's Day gift. I really enjoy making new things! Not that it was anything big, but I still had fun (pictures below if you're interested).
That night Lynlee and I went with Marilyn to see a community play called Studio 71. This play holds a special place in our hearts: we were in the original cast of it 9 years ago. If you didn't know us as teenagers I should mention here that these community plays were our life when we were younger. Twice a year for 3 years (4 years for Marilyn) we would dance and sing our little hearts out on stage after weeks of rehearsals and fun times with the other cast members. We had inside jokes galore that we still giggle about and Marilyn and I have spent countless hours reminiscing and re-watching the recorded tapes. We were obsessed. But what better way for a young adult to spend all those hours of free time? I really think more kids should get involved with things like this instead of some things they get involved in.
It was so weird to be in the audience while watching that play. I kept thinking I had missed my cue and was supposed to be skipping onto the stage or screaming and running from the shark (you had to be there) but no, this time it was time to be sitting on the grass on the hill (which was much greener and softer in our day) and cheering for the little 6 year old who just made her musical debut.
We had to represent, so Marilyn and I wore our shirts from when we were in Studio 71. Needless to say they've been revamped and were different for this production of the play. Afterwards we snuck up to the stage and got a picture in front of the sign (also revamped). It was so fun to see Wendy, Gwyneth, and Peggy again (the director, script writer, and choreographer - they are the same people who were doing this when we were), as well as some other friendly faces from our past as well.

Me, Gwyneth, and Marilyn

Sunday was Father's Day! Chris is a wonderful father to our little girl and just when I think I couldn't love him more, I find more reasons for why I do.

a cheesy shirt and a goodie bag with daddy treats
I made the bag part :)

 

The Human Sponge

Alright alright, I know it and you know it: I am a slacker when it comes to blogging. What happened? I was doing great and then poof! Fell off the face of the earth. Sorry 'bout that!

Have you ever noticed that children are like human sponges. When they reach a certain age they figuratively soak up everything around them and spit it back out. I've always heard this but very recently am learning firsthand the truth of it.
Lynlee is now one week shy of 17 months old and she is a human sponge. There are the things we've been actively trying to teach her (say please and thank you, dipping food into sauces, etc) but there are also a number of things we've noticed her doing that we haven't consciously been trying for:

• We've all had a fun month of being sick and have been blowing our noses a lot. I now need to put the tissues up high and close bathroom doors to keep toilet paper safe because she feels the need to blow her nose every 5 minutes. She then proceeds to use the same paper product to start cleaning everything (for the record, we blow our noses and clean surfaces with completely separate materials.)
• We give the cats a squirt with the water bottle if they are being naughty. Lynlee walks around after them with the water bottle making her own squirting noises as she is still trying to master the squeezing of the squirting trigger.
• We have some shoelaces we dangle about to play with the cats. She gets a hold of them and terrorizes the poor souls as she screams in delight and runs after them, waiving the laces high. They either run or lie down and cower, as demonstrated below.
  
• Talking on the phone. This is the cutest! I've given her my old flip phones to play with and the other day she had a full conversation on it, complete with pauses to let the other person speak and giggles at what they said.

My favorite copycat moment so far happened yesterday.
Lynlee and I were playing on the stairs when I got a tickle in my nose and sneezed. She promptly said what I thought was "bless you" (sounded more like "bess oo") but there's no way, I thought, she's way too young for that. A few seconds later I sneezed again and this time there was no mistake. "bess oo." Little kid voices melt my heart. I said thank you as I wondered in amazement how a child only 16 months old could connect two things like that in her mind and formulate the appropriate polite response all within a second after it happened. I felt excited that in spite of having weak parents such as Chris and I, our daughter is observing things around her and learning. I giggled to myself that I was having all these thoughts race through my mind while she had already moved on and was picking at a piece of loose carpet on the stair.
A third time, "Achoo!"
"bess oo momma."
"Thank you Lynlee."