stop the clock, please

the passage of time has always intrigued me. ever since i was a young girl, it seemed that i was always counting down days until something, looking forward to the next event or season. during a particularly boring french class in high school, i remember calculating exactly how many days until i would graduate (eight hundred and something, i think it was). i've always gotten a little thrill out of turning the page on the calendar to a fresh new month and seeing evidence of seasons changing outdoors. i adore autumn, but one year as a child i was so ready for winter that i climbed the cherry tree in my parent's backyard and shook those branches so hard, wanting all of the leaves to fall off so that it would just snow already! after josh and i were engaged, my mom gave me a pretty glass jar full of chocolate dusted almonds, one to eat every day until our wedding.

and now, it seems, i've passed this trait of trying to speed up time to my eldest. he's been into asking a million questions lately and is in love with the idea of the four seasons. he has walked up to a complete stranger and told them, "winter is my favorite." you have no idea how much he longs for winter to come. every morning he asks me, "what it is outside today, mommy?" and i've been giving him the same response every morning: "its summer outside today, honey." and he sort of pouts a little, but when i remind him that fall is just around the corner, he perks up a bit. he has actually woken up from a bad dream crying and saying, "i want it to be winter now!" the first day of autumn is september 23rd and i've decided that he and i will have a little "fall party" together where i'll have him help me put out the harvest decorations and i'll make hot apple cider or something. even though it will probably still be 100 degrees outside. i haven't been able to break the news to him that we won't actually get snow at our house, but i'm planning on driving until we do see some snow when it arrives a bit further east.

the thing is, as much as i love having time fly by and seeing changes and watching my kids grow before my eyes, lately i've been wishing i had a pause button handy. my two boys are at just the greatest stages right now, both individually and together. tristan is a learning machine and i had no idea how much i'd love to teach him all that he wants to know. he is obsessed with snakes right now and i think that we have every book about snakes from all the county libraries in our living room right now. he knows more about sharks than i do and is now able to recite the days of the week... we are working on the months of the year next. the idea of homeschooling is becoming more and more appealing as i see how eager of a student he'd be.

samuel is just a ham. we had an hour long wait at an urgent care clinic this afternoon because he has another ear infection and once the baby motrin kicked in, he was entertaining every single person in that waiting room. he loves to clap, point, wave, "talk" on the phone (or anything remotely resembling a phone), dance until he falls down in a heap and wrestle with his big brother. he is such a little toughie, which is good because tristan isn't always the most gentle with him, but he adores tristan nonetheless. he would follow that boy into the bathroom if tristan would let him, but of course he doesn't let him, so samuel patiently waits outside the door like an obedient puppy until tristan emerges and samuel squeals with delight. "sam-yule! wets play togever!" tristan will holler and they will do just that, racing all around the house with giggles and shouts and shrieks.

i never knew watching my children play together could be this heartwarming, and i'm hopeful that it will last and that their bond will grow even stronger through the passage of time. still, i don't think that any future stage will ever compare to the cuteness that i get to witness on a daily basis. those boys.....they get me all gooey inside, bless their little hearts.