love letters

I approached the locked master doors, from within, in curiosity of a shuffling sound. There they were...two note cards penetrating through the crack of the double doors. Moving back and forth, up and down waiting to be noticed...and tugged. Having received so many over the years [not through the door as I recall] I knew exactly what it was. Sierra's love letters. I just stood there with a smile letting my heart do all the chortling so as not to be heard. Just wanted to enjoy the cute-ness of those moments as those note cards kept shuffling. One for the "best dad a kid could ever have" and one for the "best mom a kid could ever have".

birthday denial




It was a first in four years that Maverick was not in an accepting mood of the, "HAPPY BIRTHDAY!" declaration from anyone.  What a puzzler.  In my very sleepy state, after only an hour sleep overnight, I called Maverick into my room and sang to him.  Much to my surprise there was the pouting grunts followed by, "I don't want it."  Odd.  In the loaded van, on the way to school, I asked him what kind of birthday cake he wanted.  Same answer, "I don't want it."  I was perplexed.

  

On the way home from picking up the girls, I asked Maverick once again,

what kind of  birthday cake he wanted and he exclaimed, "chocolate cake." 
He finally warmed up to the idea. When we got home, Mike started frying
the lumpia, Dylan started washing dishes, Tori and Sierra helped dry and

put them away, Tyler started some rice and the rice cooker and he made

the cake with slight help from the girls [as Maverick observed].  It was a fun

birthday-frenzy-prep hour in the kitchen while I fed Ryan Luefkens  some
multi-grain baby cereal and gerber mango.  Here I asked him to smile...

 and he raised his arms.



It's such a delight to a mama's heart to see her babies soak in the
birthday song [and attention] with a priceless smile...

It was actually Mike that cut the cake...but look how Mav's facial expression
matches the appearance of him cake-cutting-happy with that knife

I SO LOVE THIS BOY!

I LOVE YOU

The night before was a rather late one for the little Maverick. It was Lola's last night in our home and his two mothering older sisters would be spending that night on the bedroom floor with her [and him]. Emotional anxiety kept the girls squirming, wiggling, chitty chatty and giddy. Maverick paid the price by having to endure their commotion until the middle of the night. So, the following day his toddler body tried to make up for it with kitty naps here and there. The couch, the car seat, the floor...etc.

Dinner was late but Maverick had no interest in taco munching. Instead he settled for a few quiet moments on the leather couch with Daddy's ipod in hand. After my taco munching, my own night surrendering body was in the mood for cuddling. So, I cuddled with him for a little bit. He'd mastered the animal matching game. Such fascination to watch his little God-created brain harmoniously work with his little fingers at such an impressive speed. It wasn't long and my eyelids felt like led. So, after washing up I crawled into my comfy cozy bed and called Maverick. "What mom?"

"Come see mommy."

"Ok." onto the bed he climbed and under the covers. We cuddled we three [me, Maverick and the ipod]. The smell of his toddler cheeks were a cozy comfort. If I was to die in my sleep at that moment, I certainly would've died happy. He leaned over and puckered up his lips waiting for me to meet his affections half way. Just when I thought that delightful moment had been sealed with his tender toddler kiss I hear, "I wuv you mommy."