Things I Don't Want to Forget

The other day Miriam was sitting on the arm of our 70s green armchair chatting with me while I nursed Harriet. For absolutely no reason at all, she fell off. When she got back up she said in this really precise, supercilious tone: "That was an accident." I laughed so hard that Cowen started laughing at me and then Miriam started laughing at him and it was hilarious.

The other morning Miriam made orange juice (of her own accord) for breakfast. She added too much water so all the other children were whining and making comments about how the juice didn't taste right. I thought Miriam would have her feelings hurt so I kept shushing the kids and giving them the evil eye. It so happened that Miriam and I were the last ones eating that morning so we were alone at the table when Miriam looked over at me with this twinkle in her eye and an adorable grin and said, "I don't think my juice was a success." She is priceless.

Today Miriam was holding Harriet and I had one of those heartmelting mother moments. Miriam was sitting on the flour bucket so she could chat with me while I cleaned the oven (and behind the oven and under the oven--it was disgusting and now it is amazing--if you come visit in the next few days feel free to move my stove and look behind it) and she was holding Harriet while she chatted with me. At one point she stopped talking and I stopped working and looked over and Miriam was looking down at Harriet and Harriet was looking back at Miriam and it was so beautiful--the expressions on their faces. I have such beautiful daughters. Beautiful inside and out.

Some other things I don't want to forget: Harriet sounds like a goat. Really, she only cries at night when she's hungry. During the day, if she makes any noise at all, she makes this goat sound. Sometimes I call her my goat baby. Or my Buddha baby (her face is so round).

Cowen has said so many funny things lately, but now I've forgotten them. Grr. One sweet Cowen thing--he's been saving his allowance for a mountain bike because he didn't want to use Miriam's old bike due to its girly color. Tim found a bike that he approved of (he's hard to please when it comes to bikes) on ksl (the big online Utah garage sale). Kami picked it up for us so we wouldn't have to drive so far. When I explained all of this to Cowen he said, "When can I call Aunt Kami to thank her for getting my bike?" What a sweetheart.

It was also awesome when he first rode his bike. Kami pulled it out of her garage and Cowen took it, started running, jumped on it, and wobbled to and fro and almost hit a tree before straightening himself out. He circled around and came back to me to get the seat lowered. Then he took off again--full tilt. Boys. When Miriam got on her new bike she was . . . a lot more tentative. Timothy told the kids he would teach them to mountain bike this summer. My poor heart can't take it, but nobody is asking my opinion.

Last thing: One time Eli was by me when his phone (play phone) rang. He answered, "Hello," and made several intent listening faces before hanging up. When I asked him who called he said, without any hesitation, "Harriet." Sweet. Eli adores Harriet.

One more last thing: today at lunch Miriam asked me when we could go to another Treehouse Museum play. The Treehouse is a children's museum in Ogden that is awesome and has a theater where they put on children's plays that are interactive with the audience. I told Miriam that it was a good idea to go again because we hadn't been to one in a long time. Then Miriam said, "Dad should be in their plays." Cowen replied, "Yeah, he would make the plays a lot funnier!" Then Miriam said, "He could be a court jester!" To which Cowen said, "He could make his faces!!" Then the children spent the next fifteen minutes trying to imitate Timothy's unbelievably awesome weird faces. It was doubly funny--first the weird faces the children were pulling, and then when I recognized the face and could picture Timothy making it. He makes the best faces.