Fan Club

Since Eric and I took a little longer and struggled a little harder to have children of our own, I may well confess that we may just hug our kids a little tighter, kiss their faces a little more often and spoil and love them for all their worth. And that's a lot. I'm not ashamed to say that I am my kids' biggest fan. Each of them. Both of them. I will be the first one to stake a claim on pure, 100%, biased Mommy love. Don't get me wrong; I'm not oblivious to their bad behavior, but I'm not ashamed to divulge my secret conviction that my kids are the best kids in the world.

The simple reason: because they're MINE!

So there. I let you in on my dirty, little secret that I've been trying to squelch deep down inside, all the while little shards of pride spill out into my writing. I'm not ashamed. Just in love.

I said this before and feel happy to stick with it: If you're not your kid's biggest fan, who should be?

(Thinking: bumper stickers, billboards, coffeee cups, boxes of hair color, boxes of chocolate)

As I was saying, I am my kids' biggest fan. Ever. Interestingly enough, they reciprocated some of their excitement tonight. Some examples of what got us going-

~ Lincoln has been taking more consecutive steps. Tonight he walked about 9 steps across the room to reach his Daddy. As we lined him up, back and forth, Elaina was standing on the sidelines cheering him on squealing and shouting, "C'mon Baby, you can do it!! Mommy he's walking! Go Lincoln!" Each time he fell, Elaina sighed saying, "Game over." Where did she ever get that? It was pretty funny and somewhat in context.

~ Elaina decided we were going to play ball tonight. Although we were only about 4 feet from each other, the Girl can catch. And she can throw. We actually did play a game of ball. I don't know when or where her miraculous ball handling skills developed in the past 2 months, but she was impressive. For an almost 3 year old that is.

~ I often sing (try) to Lincoln when he begins to wiggle or fuss. It seems like he settles immediately and gazes upon my face and listens to my words. While I was giving them a bath tonight I began to sing Elaina's request of the song, "The Wheels on the Bus." Once I finished 4 verses, Lincoln clapped his hands for me with a giant smile on his face. It's as if he knew the proper response and acted accordingly. Even if your convinced that it was a fluke, it still melted my heart. Oh that Boy!

So there, go and cheer on your kids and remember to give someone a little extra encouragement today. See what a good cycle you can create? I know that I felt the best of all!