The Crazy Train

Yes, I currently consider myself to be a permanent passenger of the crazy train called life with 2 young children.  Nothing is predictable and all plans must have a certain degree of elasticity built in.  Yet, despite grabbing my spot by the window on the crazy train, it has so far been a smooth ride.   I thought it was amazing having just our son around, but since the birth of our daughter almost 4 months ago, it has become even more amazing.  There is scarce little time to do much else other than work and spend time with the family, but that is as it should be right now.  I am lucky to have a flexible schedule that allows me the freedom to arrive home before dinner most days, actually eat dinner as a family at the dining room table, and be there for our children.  Could I work more?  Sure, I could always stay later at work, get a little more done, perhaps increase the frequency of the checks I receive for completed work; but just to have that extra money isn't worth it to me not to see my children every day.  We make ends meet and that is all that matters.  So by making myself available to my children and wife in the afternoons and on weekends (that's right, unlike other contractors, I very rarely work weekends), I get to see many stages of their development.  Our daughter at this point has begun grabbing for and holding on to rings that dangle from her chair.  While engaged in tummy time, she can roll herself on to her side and is struggling with all her might to start crawling.  And with all of this activity, she still maintains and happy disposition the majority of the time, perhaps even more so than our son exhibited when he was her age.  While I didn't forget the amazing times I had watching our son go throw the early stages of development, it never ceases to amaze me how quickly they learn and how quickly they change.  Which leads me to our son.  While just a little over 2.5 years ago he was where our daughter is now in terms of development, he now has gotten to the point where he must do everything himself without help.  If he tries and tries and tries and still can not complete one of his objectives, he will then ask for help, but not until he exhausts all avenues of effort himself.  Just last week, he decided he was going to climb a rickety pile of logs I have stacked along our fence.  He held on to the fence, climbed all the way up, and proceeded to put his arms on top of our 6 foot fence so he could look at the cars on the road.  I allowed him to do this one more time before informing him that we don't climb up the logs to the top of the fence.  I just couldn't not let him try it.  Even when it comes to pouring himself milk or apple juice, he wants to do it himself, which he largely can except for the occasional spill.  Its awesome to see him develop his personality and become his own unique person.  Perhaps the greatest thing about our son that I heard from his daycare is that he is beginning to show signs of empathy.  Whenever he sees another child in his room at daycare either get hurt or get upset, he gets concerned and wants to make sure they are OK.  To me, that's amazing, especially at his age.  Even with our dogs, I had to give them a bath the other last weekend and I normally leash them to our fence to make sure they don't run off in the middle of a bath.  Our son was outside to help and as I was about to hook up Aspen to the leash, he almost broke down crying.  I had to stop what I was doing and explain why I was leashing up Aspen and that I wasn't going to hurt him.  I couldn't ask for a more caring son.  Simply amazing.  But speaking of our son, he just woke up and I must now end this so go get him.  Oh, and on a side note, my handlebar mustache is getting shaved off today.  After growing it to almost 7.5 inches from end to end since last October, the heat and humidity is making it become unbearable, so it must go.