thursday 13: week 5

13 things i love about my kids

1) they behave themselves in public - despite the whining i endure on the home front, the kids are SO flipping well behaved (most of the time) when we're out. i never worry about taking them to nice restaurants or grownup stores. this makes life so much less complicated.

2) they both love school - yes, parker has a hard time waking up in the morning, but once she's up she's ready to be there already. two days in to her 'ski break' she was asking if it was time to go back to school. likewise, 'renzo complains until the moment we get to school. at which point he enjoys himself immensely and is sad to leave.

3) they love each other - from the moment he was born parker has adored her brother and he has looked up to her. they play together endlessly. one of my greatest joys in parenting is watching them together.

4) their dimples

5) they're individuals - there is no way describe parker without using the word 'parker.' and lorenzo is so flipping 'renzo. both have their own ideas of fashion and cool and make believe and they're still so unaffected by their peers (whew).

6) they still like to snuggle

7) they love the water and are competent swimmers - we spend four days a week in the hot tub in the winter and almost every day in the pool in the summer. by five years old parker could swim the length of the pool, the long way, without help. lorenzo can hold his breath for so long under water that i jumped in to 'save' him the other day, thinking he was in trouble. he looked at me like i was crazy when i pulled him out.

8) they're adventurous eaters - parker's favorite food when she was two was escargot. lorenzo passes up french fries in favor of a green salad. need i say more?

9) they each have a wonky and fantastic sense of humor.

10) they're adaptable - my kids have endured a lot of changes in their lives and though they've had setbacks, they're strong willing to accept change. a bajillion times more than i would have been at their ages.

11) they're goofy as all hell.

12) they love to read - reading was one of my favorite things to do as a child (and still is now) and i'm so thrilled that they love to be read to and that parker is loving learning to read.

13) they inspire me to be a better mom.

did i say everyday? i meant ALMOST everyday.

we've come a long way babies - photo circa 2/2007

it's raining cats and dogs. or men. whichever you prefer. and while it's making a lovely sound right now at 8.17pm, i'm sort of over dragging complainy children out on soggy errands.

tomorrow i'm heading up to sf with my grandpa who is dealing with his second bout of prostate cancer in six years. he's still in the very early stages of diagnosis and is having a bone scan done tomorrow. this entails an injection of radioactive dye and three hours of waiting before the actual scan. anyway, think good thoughts or pray or manifest or do whatever it is you do when something is not right. because this isn't!

thursday 13: week 4

13 books i love (in no particular order)

1) welcome to the monkey house by kurt vonnegut

2) love in the time of cholera by gabriel garcia marquez

3) ocean sea by allesandro barrico

4) a soldier of the great war by mark helprin

5) she's come undone by wally lamb

6) the plague and the fire by james leasor

7) delta of venus by anais nin

8) helter skelter by vincent bugliosi

9) the handmaid's tale by margaret atwood

10) the martian chronicles by ray bradbury

11) perfume by patrick suskind

12) jane eyre by charlotte bronte

13) the amityville horror by jay anson

and what about you m'dears?