Boy is it human today!

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You are my sunshine

I used to sing to Ellie in the hospital, particularly after her first surgery, as she lay in the PICU at 20 months.  It gave me something to do, a way to comfort her when I was unable to pick her up (because moving her around was painful for her and she had a large amount of tubing that made it quite complicated.)  One of the songs I would sing to her was "You are My Sunshine."

Last Friday was Family Fun Night at Ben and Ellie's school.  I decided to walk through the rain with my umbrella (it has a duck shaped hole in it, isn't that wange?)  with Lotta strapped onto my front.  As we approached the school, I saw a gaggle of kids crossing the street with 2 grown-ups.  One little girl walked more slowly.  She had on her rain slicker, her umbrella, her rain boots.  She was singing, "You are My Sunshine".  On the one hand, it was raining, making this an appropriate tune.  Instead, I enjoyed thinking that Ellie was whispering in her ear, "Sing this song!"

Human

Last week (or perhaps the week before--who knows?), as Ben and I were walking home from the bus stop, he said, "Oh am glad it's not as human as it was this morning!"  I realized immediately he meant humid.

Favorite planet

Ben was explaining how he was learning about the planets at school.  He told me if I knew his favorite planet.  I took a few guesses, starting with the controversial Pluto.  He then announced that the sun was his favorite, because it could, in fact destroy all the other planets.  Hmm.

Mr. Smarty Pants

Recently, I read that new studies suggest telling kids they are smart causes them to not attempt challenging tasks for fear of losing that smart label.  At one point, I started to tell Ben that he was smart, and stopped myself, explaining to Ben the latest research.  Now its our joke, every time I slip up and start to comment that what Ben is

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For the ladies..

Mother's Day Ben took a shower, styled his hair, put on deodorant.  He clothed himself in a collared shirt with tie.  He told us he did all this "for the ladies"

Lance Armstrong

At Zumba on Thursday night, one of my classmates (zumba mates?) gave me a yellow Livestrong bracelet.  Ben saw it on me and HAD to wear it to school.  I explained that Lance Armstrong is an incredibly amazing man.  He survived when the doctors said he had no hope.  Ben responded that he wished we'd had a bracelet when Ellie were alive so that she could have worn one and lived.  Me too.