A Slice of Life

I have four children.  Sometimes I hear myself say this and it surprises me.  My oldest two will turn six and four this weekend. 

Malachi is ready to be six.  He's ready for anything.  He's getting tall like his Daddy, and also like his Daddy, he will talk to anyone.  He is conversationally fearless!  He's really into pirates right now, so he has his sword at the ready while he watches Muppet Treasure Island and Pirates of the Caribbean.  My mom and niece made a treasure map and sent it to him in the mail.  I'm pretty sure he has it stowed away in his bed somewhere, as though the map itself was buried treasure.

Israel (a.k.a. Izzy, Iz Niz, Zoo Bear, and the Spiceman) is also getting tall.  In fact, I am a little worried that one day he will be taller than Malachi.  This will be great for him, but will drive Malachi crazy.  At almost four, he is on the precipice of being potty trained.  What that means is that he can go potty just fine on his own when it strikes his fancy, but most often he can't be bothered with it.  This morning it struck him as a good idea, so he went.  Then he called me in to help him wipe, only to refuse to let me do it, so I stood by watching as he insisted on tearing the toilet paper into individual pieces.  It was a severe test of patience, let me tell you!  And no one can test my patience like Izzy can.  Sometimes he is as immoveable as a mountain.  He also makes me laugh the most, though, like when he was going around the house singing, "Oooh, you and me, and our smock-atility vehicle."  It was supposed to be "sports utility".  We can thank Veggie Tales for the reason he was singing about a sports utility vehicle in the first place. 

Simeon is my baby boy, although, he's actually pretty big.  He just turned two at the end of March, and he's really starting to talk now.  For a long time, he would repeat things we said without really knowing what he was saying.  Now he is responding instead of just repeating.  A great example of this happened the other day when he tried to ride Chi's bike.  When I told him it was too big for him, he said, "No, it's mine!"  "I'm pretty sure it's Malachi's," I told him.  I thought he was just going to repeat me at first, but instead he declared quite decidedly, "Pretty sure it's Sima's." 

Lily is the real baby, and the only girl.  She will be two months old tomorrow.  For a while it seemed like all she did was sleep, eat, and cry, but now she is becoming more interactive.  She likes when I sit down and talk to her.  I hold her in my arms and we have a little conversation.  She smiles at me a lot, and sometimes she will try to join in with a little "Coo" or "Aah".  Think what you want, but I know she's talking to me.  She has the most beautiful blue eyes, and I am crossing my fingers that they will stay that color!  My dad has blue eyes, so it's possible, even though her Mommy and Daddy have brown and hazel, that her eyes could be blue too.

All of this is just a glimpse, just a sliver out of our lives.  Lily is so small now, but before I know it, she'll be the one asserting her independance over what belongs to her, and Simeon will be the one meticulously separating toilet paper.  Izzy will be starting school, and Malachi will be...well, I don't know yet.  I do know that I don't want to forget what this moment, what this day is like.  It seems like I should remember all these little details forever, but I am already surprised by the things I forget.