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Declaration of Dependents
We hope that everyone had a Happy Fourth. We certainly did. As Kira’s birthday approaches later this week, we ventured out to our favorite indoor swimming hole, but found it to be uncomfortably cold, even with our sweltering heat outdoors. It was still enjoyable, made so with the extra hands of my two cousins with whom we share El Paso.
Hakan had a few good firsts recently. I wondered if his long hair around his ears was bothering him (mine does when it gets like that), so I gave him his very first hair trim. It was just around the ears, so he does not look terribly different – I’m still trying to talk Kira into letting me give him a Mohawk, though, so stay tuned.
I finally caught his smile on camera! He’s been working hard on getting that down in the last couple of days. He usually gives me blank stares, but Kira’s gotten a lot of smiles recently. Here is what I captured:
Hakan has also been working hard on holding his head up. He can hold it pretty steady for a few seconds before it starts wobbling a little, then he over-corrects in the other direction and loses his balance. Still, we’ve got to give credit where it’s due.
Avey’s latest obsession is a little film called The Nightmare Before Christmas. You may recall that she has had a little fascination with the main character for some time, but we did not think she was ready to see the entire film as it is rather creepy. Well, two Halloweens have passed since she first wanted to see it, so she finally convinced us that she was ready to subject herself to its horrors. We let her watch it while Carver was napping, and during the day (to allow some time to recover before bedtime). We were pleased and relieved to find that she loved it, and we’ve not had any reports of nightmares! She’s watched it nearly every day this week, partly because she enjoys it, and partly because doing so makes her feel grown up.
Carver has been hilarious as usual. He’s also been a little possessive of me. More than ever, this last week he has refused to allow Kira to assist him with the smallest things, and demanded my attention at nearly every moment. One day, I was feeding Carver his late lunch after getting home from school, and simultaneously talking to Kira about something that had happened during the day. Carver would have none of it, and shouted at me, “No! Don’t talk to Mom – talk to me!” I promise I do my best to spread my attention equally, but it’s getting spread thinner and thinner these days.