Home again

Ivan had a bit of a rough day on the way home yesterday, although you can't tell it from the video at the end of this post. He entertained us with singing for about 10 or 15 minutes. It was incredible. I was glad I got some of it on tape. Unfortunately I was out of memory space when a couple of hours later, Dominique made up a song of her own. It wasn't quite as long or elaborately phrased, but she is a good little song writer in her own rite. The rough part for Ivan was the leaving. He does better if I prepare him for things, so thanksgiving day, I told him we'd be leaving Sat. Each night he made this speech:"Nana we have to leave in a couple of days. Will you miss me? I will miss you." The morning of our departure, Nana was already at work and Ivan cried that we were leaving and did his best to make us change our plans to go. During the ride he protested more and cried some. When he woke up in Abilene, I asked him where he thought we were and he said with a hint of hope: "Houston street?" He was not pleased when I said we were home in Abilene and when he recognized that we were indeed turning down our street, real tears streamed down his face. Dominique was not so drastically affected. She clambered out of the truck and was barely in the door when she asked if she could use the computer and mouse.

She can be pretty easy going and hilarious. Last night her scab fell off, (where she got her finger slammed in the door). She was so very pleased that it was pink underneath. She kept dancing, jumping and saying: "look, pink, like my favorite color!" She is still excited about it today.

I'll start back tracking now and give you some highlights.
Here we are, on our way to Houston, at our traditional picnic stopping spot just off the highway. The kids actually traveled wonderfully. Dominique dozed off a couple of times and Ivan stayed awake out of sheer excitement. He also has an impeccable memory. He remembered that last time, we stopped for milk shakes as a driving treat and started requesting one a couple of hours into the trip.


Brian gave Ivan his first ride on a bike without training wheels. They had a blast going up and down the street.

The kids wanted to show off their "pregnant" bellies with me. We have gotten lots of belly shots lately- but none quite like this one. They put a stuffed animal up their shirts and posed. Notice how Dominique arched her back to accentuate her "pregnantness"? And the nurturing big brother is cradling his belly baby just so.



About the song in the video. It was inspired by the trees that are changing colors here and were dramatic displays of orange, yellow and red (when they could be seen). Also, you can hear Dominique a little, she was trying to sing back-up which is hard to do when neither of them had a clue where the song was headed. True improvisation!