Kids

A friend of mine had her first child several months ago. I finally got to meet the toothless, bald, smile-as-big-as-his-face baby. The worn out saying of "nothing will ever be the same again" just doesn't even begin to describe what that really means. Yes, she's having a hard time as all new parents do. She is just learning to love and care for that little baby. It's actually not until much later that it hits you what interesting and wonderful little people you're living with. Honestly, I wish if I had it written down every time Ivor or Mia came to me with one of their unique comments on the world around them and life in general. They both change constantly so their comments change and it will keep us amused until preteen years (or so I am told).

I don't get ordinary kisses. Mia stands on her tiptoes and lifts one of her feet off the ground behind her (like in the movies) to plant a smooch on my face. She wished upon a star tonight to have a real live pony when she grows up. She declared that it was her "dream come true" when, much to our surprise, there were fireworks so we rushed out into the cold in our pajamas to watch, kids' eyes big as saucers. That was a couple of weeks ago and she won't stop talking about it. At age four and a half she has her life figured out, knows how many kids she will have (2 or 4), what their names will be (I honestly can't remember any more), what pets she'll have (list too long for this little blog), what color her car will be (rainbow).... Today I attended a birthday party for one of her stuffed animals and we had to sing happy birthday in three languages (Croatian, English and German). I must confess though, I wasn't there willingly, she pestered me until I came.

Ivor knows what he will be when he grows up. Few years ago he started out with the usual policeman, firefighter. Now we're getting more specific. He's decided to have several jobs. At the age 7 he knows that he'll start up an aquarium, just like the one in Atlanta and has been researching fish so he can know which ones to get for the aquarium exhibits. He'll also have a hotel and a water park alongside the aquarium so you're all welcome to stay for a few days. I'll keep you posted. He'll be a ninja in his spare time so he can fight off any zombies that might happen nearby. You can never bee too careful I suppose. So on our way to school in the mornings we clock the speed of our car at 68mph to see how fast the fastest fish in the world can swim (called sailfish or istiophorus). Or we slow down to a seemingly slow pace of 30mph which is how fast the fastest shark in the world is believed to swim (mako shark). He knows how chocolate was discovered and how it is made and is curious about everything from electricity to space travel.

There are no boring days when you have kids. They'll leave tiny and sharp things on the floor for you to step on (be careful how you go through the "prickly forest," says Ivor), jump out of the shadows to scare you (funny how they don't even have to learn this one), leave sticky trails on light switches, mirrors, walls and your chair at the table, and will pack your house with treasures like dirty rocks, stray pets (Ivor is very good at this), priceless drawings, broken toys, pooped underwear and much, much more. Much patience is required for the job. Oh, and the pay sucks unless you don't mind getting paid with sticky hugs and sloppy kisses. It's kind of sad to think that they will turn into tired, stressed out adults like me some day.