Sporadics

My posting over the next week or so will likely be sporadic. Really, hasn't it always been? But I'm feeling a bit overwhelmed these days-- treading water, mostly. I have to wrap up work and prepare for finals and begin studying for the bar all in the next two weeks. Less time than that, really. And I'm having trouble holding everything in my head. I mean, holding it in there in consistent spurts of time to write it down to hand over to someone else to take care of, anyway.

The kids continue to amuse me, though. They are my shelter from the storm of wrapping up school and final exams. Sometimes I find myself so filled with frustration with them (like when they sweetly refuse to brush their teeth, or put on clothes, or whatever it is I'm asking) I want to explode. And then one of them will do something that just knocks me off my feet and sends my spiraling into tizzies of laughter.

I know I'll never get these years of their lives (or mine) back. So I'm really trying to appreciate the small moments with them. Casey has begun telling me, "You be James, Mommy," when we play with the Thomas tracks. And asking me to set them up to run in a particular pattern. We like to pretend one of our trains gets stuck, and the other one is going to be really useful and a good friend and come help out the stuck train. Even Marcie likes to push the trains on the track, and Casey has gotten much better about sharing them with her and allowing her to play.

Marcie, too, amazes me daily. She hates having us feed her-- wants to do it herself. Casey would let you spoon feed him baby food until he was pretty much 3. We didn't, mind you, but he would have let us. Marcie, on the other hand, really wants to be independent. Last night, for instance, she refused to take a sippy cup of water handed to her. She pushed it away and said, "No." As soon as it was set down on the table, though, she picked it up and began sucking down the liquid. And she answers questions and follows directions. She's had the "no" down for a while now. But she also says, "yeah," which cracks me up.

So I have just two more days at work (until August, when I return for several weeks before moving on to the law firm). I have two more final exams. And two weeks until graduation. I have two weekends before my first Bar Review course begins. I have two children, too. Hmm. The number 2 seems to figuring prominently in my world these days. I'm cool with that.