I look forward to seeing you.

Dearest Devyn,

I want you to know that I get excited to see you every time I go pick you up from school.

It seems a little silly, because you're only gone for like two and a half hours, but I miss you, and I get excited to see you!

I'm writing this here, because I have a feeling there are things you won't really believe when I say them to you later. I'll tell you that I love spending time with you, or that I think you're amazing, and you'll just chalk it up to me being your mom.

But I'm hoping that if you read this, years from now, you'll realize that I wasn't just saying things because I'm your mom and I'm "supposed to." I really do love spending time with you.

Your Aunt Wendy told me last week that a neighbor saw her recently and said, "Are you doing some babysitting?" And she was confused and said, "No, why?" And then she realized the lady was talking about you! She doesn't see her time with you as babysitting, she said. She just thinks of it as hanging out with Dev.

Valentine's Day

Happy Valentine's Day!






















These are the treats I made for Devyn's class party! (Babybel cheeses with hearts cut out of the wax.

Ice skating in a princess dress

Devyn had been begging me to take her ice skating (just like Elsa), so we made our first foray out onto the ice this week. She was pretty good! A little nervous at first, but we kept trying and she did just great.

Pretty cool drawing!

Adventure Days!!

As part of wanting to maintain more balance in our weeks (especially when I'm working a lot right now) I decided at the beginning of the year that Devyn and I would have adventure days on Fridays: we would do something different, special, out of the ordinary together. I want to keep it around $25 or less, and take advantage of as many free and low cost things as possible.  Here is what we have done/are doing!

Jan. 9 — The Denver Museum of Nature and Science

Jan. 16 — Swimming at the Westminster rec center

Jan. 23 — "Penguins of Madagascar" at the local dollar movie theater

Feb. 9 — Ice skating at the Arvada rec center

Adventure 1: Denver Museum of Nature and Science

One of my resolutions has been to be more present with Dev. So why am I typing this while sitting at the museum of nature and science with her?

Because sometimes she does just fine without me. And I'm trying to go with the flow. We've been sat in front of these sheep, playing with these blocks for almost 20 minutes now, and she's not even close to done.

I'm trying not to rush her. I'm trying to show her that what she wants is valid. That her play is valuable. That there's no need to rush, or see everything.

When she wanted to "read" me the placards about the dinosaurs, I didn't correct her. When she wants to name all the sheep, I listen.

That's the best I can do, I think.

Eye Shadow

"Mom, can I put on some eye shadow? Because I'm Elsa, and Elsa has eye shadow."