2010

hello 2010.
i am counting on you.
counting on you to bring about a strong sense of well being.
a renewed sense of self confidence.
a deep restoration of humor.
a sense of ease and wistfulness.
a transformation of sorts.

of course dear 2010, i do not expect you to do this alone.
i commit to doing my part of the work too. i just need you
to provide me with the time. provide me with each day a
sunrise and each night a sunset- giving me that constant
daily rythmn of lifes lightness and darkness- a literal and
figurative message that penetrates me so profoundly.
i commit to holding this lightness and darkness as part
of the whole. i will continue to take the good with the bad
and know that it is this whole that brings about growth and
understanding. i welcome the lessons i will learn this
year while holding strong that i am capable to handling
all of it.

hello 2010, i open up my arms and embrace you.

happy "two" you

happy to you teo.

today you are two and while i am enjoying every moment of watching you grow and change and bare your personality, i find myself feeling like the fleeting moments of your babyhood vanished before my very eyes. you are a full fledged toddler with a growing vocabulary to prove it. i had always heard that boys speak later and with less clarity than girls and since your sister proved to follow suit in that "advanced girl way", i sort of expected to not hear so much jabbering from you. but this proves not to be the case. you can talk it up with the best of 'em. i am amazed by what you say and understand. it is not a new word here and there, it is an avalanche of words that fill your curious brain and you try them out in nearly perfect form every day.

you too, are ALL boy. and this i am not kidding about. you bumble about like a ball in a pinball game-- from one thing to the next, to the next, to the next. you have energy that i can barely keep up with.

you have an instinctive love for music and we go weekly to hear mister ben play at the local coffee shop. he plays the guitar and the ukulele and sings songs that you listen to intently and quietly and sometimes i wonder if you are really listening at all, but then later, at home, you try out the tunes and beat out the rhythms on your drums-- which often are compiled of anything you can find. most everything can become a drum and a drumstick in your world.

along with this musical instinct, is one for sport. just as quickly as something becomes a drum and drumstick, it then becomes a racket and a ball. your form is superb and where it came from we have no idea. since sunday sports on tv simply do not happen at home and dada has never shown you specific ball & racket or ball & bat tricks, it would seem you simply have an innate desire and know-how to play ball. this of course is also rather eye opening to me and your dada as your sister was completely happy to sit and play horses- quiet, organizational play that you just don't have the patience for. it is so fascinating to see how the two of you are so different in your ways- whose to say if it is a girl/boy difference, a birth order difference or simply what each one of you was coded with genetically. but you bring balance to our lives with your spark of energy and silliness.

i love you sweet teo. more than you can imagine. you love to sing happy birthday but when you sing it, it comes out "happy to you". you sing and say this phrase to us often. and it is always a reminder to me of what i really do have in this world to be happy about- you and your sister are certainly top of my list. so on this day and every day mijo, a very happy to you.