Missing Mrs. Tompkins

The last two nights I've had dreams about school. About being back at school teaching, about Luke being in kindergarten, about my teacher friends. I miss all that. Today, I miss it a lot. I miss my colleagues, I miss knowing I'm a part of students' lives. I do not miss faculty meetings. I know that in a few years, I'll be back there most likely, doing the teacher thing. And I know that that time will be here before I know it. This time of my babies being babies is short. And I don't want to miss a moment of this. So I guess it's good that there's a part of me longing to be Mrs. Tompkins again.

One Selfish Wish

If I had one wish and could be totally selfish with it, it would be to have these men back in my life. From left to right, they are Uncle Charlie, Uncle Derb, Grandpa Barney, and Uncle Max. (that's me being held) Grandpa Barney was a wonderful grandpa who took me strawberry picking, let me eat out of the sugar bowl, gave me quarters when I visited him at the store so I could buy suckers, and just generally showed me off. He knew how to be a grandpa. When he passed away from lung cancer in 1988, my Uncle Derb (great uncle, really) kind of replaced him in a way. Uncle Derb was also really special and knew how to make others feel that way. He went out of his way to make you feel welcome. He was a southern gentleman, and he could cook like it was nobody's business. He too passed away from cancer. That was in 1999. Soon after, Uncle Charlie passed away. Uncle Max passed sometime before Grandpa and I didn't know him really well. Anyway, this probably explains 1) why I despise cigarettes, and 2) why I have a thing for old men. I miss them.

Jeans weather

Anyone who knows me well knows I'm a jeans girl. I love jeans. When I was pregnant, I couldn't wait to get back into normal jeans. When I was a teacher, I longed for Fridays when we could wear jeans and grumbled when we weren't allowed to wear them anymore. When I became a mom, I loved little kid jeans.

So, today, on one of the first cool days since Norah arrived in April, I got to put on her first pair fo jeans. I think she might just be a jeans girl too from that expression on her face!

At the zoo

We finally got to take Luke to the zoo while we were visiting Pup's mom in Louisville last month. I was so looking forward to watching Luke. Let me give you the highlights:

First, the rhinos. Pup was holding Luke and they were watching the rhinos sleep and blow dirt as they breathed. Luke thought that was pretty interesting. But then when they got up, Pup said "Look at their tails," and Luke said, "Butt. Big butt." Indeed, he was correct!

Later we went to the bird area and there was a place where you could go inside, buy some nectar and have lorikeets land on you. Why Pup thought Luke would actually enjoy this I don't know. They went in, but as soon as one of those lorikeets saw that tempting nest of hair on top of Luke's head, it was over. It scared Luke and I had to go rescue him. Pup, however, stayed in and let the birds land all over him.

A Super Week

We've had a SUPER week at our house. As you can see, the truck of the week was replaced by a superhero. Here's what happened. I was organizing and throwing things away when I came across this old Superman doll of mine. (I went through a big Superman phase in my teen years - I wanted to be Lois Lane.) Anyway, it never occurred to me how much Luke might enjoy Superman. So he toted the doll around a while and nicknamed him "Super." He and Super spent a lot of time together. Then we decided that Norah needed her own superhero so she got Spiderman to chew on. As much as I enjoy Luke's passion for trucks, I like that he's trying out something new.