Day 9

I so totally and completely have other kids beside Hannah.

We were lucky coming out here in that there is another family staying at the same house/hotel that we are which has four kids itself (oh, "itself" sounds weird. A family is a sigular group right - you would have to say itself instead of themselves and you couldn't say himself or herself because a family isn't gendered. I think Latin totally has English on this one. Or I just don't know how to use English). Anyway, the kids line up age-wise AND gender-wise with mine other than the fact that with mine and Dan's rapid reproduction rate we've thrown in one fantastic floating extra, which is Gracie, which makes sense, because there can't possibly be two crazy Gracie's in this world. She is a one-and-only type. Anywhow, what I'm trying to get out is that my kids have built in friends here and I could not be more throw-prayers-up-to-Heaven grateful that they are here to distract, entertain, make noise with, play video games with and make interesting and hilarious conversation with (ah, I'm not going to figure out how to take all those "with"s out. Dan will be back with ice cream soon. I just don't have time).

I've been proud of Isaac. He is such a take-responsibility boy (Dan Jr. folks). Any job he is given he hops to it, and if I interfere he politely lets me know that he can do it himself. Tonight he took Hannah and Gracie up the elevator and back to our room by himself.

Briant is the same happy, content, do-his-own-thing kid that he was born as. His life has been made diliriously thrilling by the presence of video games in the house. He does his best to keep up with his brother in Lego Star Wars II, but I often here Isaac starting to boss him around in the game and sometimes take the controller out of his hands to catch Briant up. When I get after Isaac, Briant says, "It's okay Mom," in the cheerisest of tones, "I want him to do it."

Gracie is as wild here as she is at home...or anywhere else she might burst into. And she does it all with a big grin and a laugh. "Where are your socks Gracie? It's the rules that you have to wear your socks when you're in the community areas," I might say when I see her running around the playroom barefoot and carefree after I'd carefully socked her for the day. And she'll look up at me with with a conspiratorial smile and sneaky looking eyes and say in the giggliest way, "I don't know?" while they sit right next to her legs, as she darn well knows. She is unreal ability to make me laugh even when what she has done makes me want to pull out all of my hair.

Gideon, the boy!!! He took a few steps last Sunday and Monday, and we were all ecstatic and Isaac was calling for a Pudding Party because we have a Pudding Party when really, really, really unexpected but much desired developmental milestones are reached in our family, but alas, the boy must not really like pudding. He's standing independently with his proud grin more though, so we'll take what we can get. His latest favorite thing to do is open the door of our room and wander out into the hallway. The door handle is just a lever that you pull down on. The lock on the door is triggered to unlock when the lever is pulled down too. So I can't even lock the boy in the room. Several times a day I hear the door click closed and then I have to get myself into the hallway to chase a giggling, scooting boy and carry him protesting back into our room. Gideon definitely has the drive to get himself out into the great wide-open.

Like I said a couple of days ago. Life is pretty normal. My kids are going around like normal. And I could just hug normal all day long for accompanying us on this trip so far.