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Hodge Podge
We’ve had so much going on the last few weeks that I’m having a difficult time narrowing my focus for today’s entry into the Ricks Family Journal, a.k.a. the blog you are currently reading. Thus, you, the avid reader, will now be mercilessly subjected to several disjointed anecdotes.
I finished teaching my first college course this week! It was a lot of work (if I were to do the math it probably would work out to about $3 an hour), a lot of fun, and a great challenge. I promise I learned more than any one of my students, but I bet most of them left the class with a decent understanding of sensation and perception. I look forward to teaching again – hopefully a topic with which I am more familiar – and grooming young learners to join the world with an appreciation of all there is to know.
Carver has been making great progress in social and physical development. He is laughing more and reciprocating attempts at conversation. Today I was talking to him and he had that look on his face you might get when somebody speaks to you in a foreign language and is clearly into what they’re saying. His face said, “Dad, I have no idea what you’re saying, but I bet it’s really entertaining, so good for you!”
He’s also been improving in his agility. One of his favorite things to do these days is grab his toes. I admit, I enjoy grabbing his toes too, so I can see the appeal.
Avey’s been switching between acting like a complete angel to a moody pre-teen. She’s probably trying to cope with how hectic things have been with me at campus more than ever, the hot weather, everyone’s lack of sleep, and continuing to relinquish her stranglehold on her parents to a guy who can’t even hold his head up for more than 5 minutes at a time. She’s started daily chores around the house, which has given her a real sense of responsibility (we hope). She’s gone strong with it so far, and every day I come home to find the great work she did.
Kira has been holding down the fort even while the hostiles are the ones housed in said fort. It is her birthday tomorrow, and we look forward to having a nice celebration among all the chaos. She is so selfless in the rest of life that we too often must force her to take a few minutes for herself. Her first action in the morning, and often the wee hours thereof, is to nourish our son. Then, nearly every morning she feeds our daughter, puts the boy down for a nap, and eventually squeezes out a few minutes to feed herself breakfast around the time most people are eating lunch. In the few minutes that she is not caring for our children, she is usually working on her church obligations, keeping up on phone calls and birthday cards to dozens of relatives, making meals for other new mothers, providing a listening ear to friends and family in need, being an ally to her clients, and offering encouraging words to a husband who can only imagine what it really means to be overwhelmed. Avey, Carver, and I are very fortunate to have her, at the very least, to be a shining example of service and selflessness. Hopefully we can emulate her to some small degree for this week, and maybe a little more every day. Happy Birthday, Kira!