monday night, and tired already

Well, my brother came over after dinner, much to the kids' delight, they love their uncle, and they know he's going to hook up the hot tub....so, when he arrived, they were happy. But, he got called into work....so, maybe tomorrow.

Charlotte Claire just loves me today. She's starting to talk more, and you'd think it was the first time I had a toddler learn to talk, I'm so fascinated by it. She'll say one word and get that faraway look, and if I know what she's trying to say, I'll try to give her words for what she's saying....she is picking words up fast now. She loves to talk about our trip to the zoo last week. She had a rough day, though. Besides skinning her knee, she fell (or threw herself, she was mad) out of Kathryn's arms on the tile by the door, and fell directly on the back of her head...I heard the terrible thud, and then the screaming, and I truly expected to see blood. But she just had a large bump, which I held ice on. I kept her up quite late tonight just to make sure she was okay, and she seemed to be.

We go through band-aids like crazy.....and it is band-aid season, with all this nice weather.

I am so relieved that Emily doesn't have to work tomorrow. And she has class, but is going to skip for some good reason...so that is relevant because: I don't have to bring Charlotte Claire and Mr. Jonny to the dentist! The appointment is for Molly, Suzanne, Sonja, and me...that's at least an hour. And we'll have Camille. I like bringing the kids places, but the dentist office is small and echo-y (is that a word?), with hard-wood floors....they get so bored there. And I get exhausted trying to keep them happy for that long.

I'm thinking I might go up to the cemetary to visit my parents' graves soon. I miss them so much. I used to call my mother every morning after the school bus came. Sometimes when it's very quiet here, and everyone is occupied, I miss her the most. Because those times I would pick up the phone and call her...just for nothing. It was very common for me to call her at a random time, and she would swear she had just picked up the phone to call me. She died when Charlotte Claire was only 7 weeks old....and she never even saw Camille. She would love them. She would love it that Charlotte isn't afraid of people. She would love Camille's sunniness, and easy smiles. And I'm sure she would enjoy conversations with Jon, who has never seemed childlike, I call him a little old man....but she wouldn't like the little fits he pitches when he doesn't get his way. She died before Emily finished nursing school, she would have rejoiced when she passed her boards, and would be so proud of her just being a nurse. I could go on and on. But I won't......One of the things I find I really like is talking about my parents, especially with my siblings. I think my kids are getting sick of me talking about them, but maybe not. When we remember things they said and did, it seems to sort of bring them alive again in my mind...