Mother's Day

I have three of the most incredible reasons to survive cancer and get back to an active life.  The youngest are identical twins, lookalike girls with pixie smiles and soft blonde curls.  Their blue eyes are huge and full of emotion at all times, at every level from joy to mischief to sadness to remorse, except when they are zapped into the TV and the rest of the world fades away.  Like most four year olds, they are quick to laugh, to cry, and to break out into completely random songs about whatever is currently going on around them, like my own personal musical troupe.  They have a hysterically funny booty-shaking dance.  They love to climb up into my bed and give me hugs and kisses and rub nosies, and to my great personal pride and pleasure they like it best when I brush and style their hair, not Daddy.  They dress themselves, are about 90% potty trained, can count to a hundred by ones and tens, are learning to read and write, and can ride manual scooters and trikes; they love coloring, dancing, music, dinosaurs, princesses, and finding ways to be different from each other.  They think it's really funny that people have trouble telling them apart, but those of us who love them don't have a problem.  One is more immediately outgoing, loves making formal introductions between people that she knows (even if they already know each other), will hug absolutely anybody on first meeting, and has a mind-bogglingly amusing pirate argh face.  The other likes to pretend to be shy because she knows people think that's cute, but after a few minutes she usually forgets to keep acting shy and her actual confident personality comes out, showing how brave and even downright bossy she sometimes is, quick to stomp her foot and pout when she doesn't get her way, with a keen understanding of the emotional weapons she possesses:  it's not uncommon for her to demand threateningly of her sister, "Do you WANT me to be SAD??" if she's not getting what she wants by other means.  Her surprisingly unselfish (most of the time) sister will usually give in to keep her happy too, something we parents keep an eye on and sometimes intercede on her behalf.  They are like two sparkling gems, cut from the same precious stone but differently faceted, so each shines uniquely.

As amazing as they are, it's hard to believe their older brother could compete in the awesome department, but he does, maybe even outshines them.  From birth he was special, never colicky or hard to please, never noisy and fussy in public places, always calm and easy to be around.  He made first-time parenting a relaxed and smooth transition for his relatively newlywed parents.  He didn't have any frightening or complicated childhood illnesses, potty trained quickly, and rarely had disciplinary issues.  Now as the oldest he's an almost tireless helper, hardly ever lapsing into typical childlike selfishness but instead almost always sensitive, thoughtful, and volunteering to assist in good spirit.  How many 8 year olds do you know that can cover the spectrum of everything from artistic mother's day crafts to helping rearrange their mother's bedside commode furniture so she can go to the bathroom (with his back resolutely and politely turned to afford privacy) without having to wake up his dad from a well-earned nap?  He probably helps me grab things at least half a dozen times a day that are out of my reach when I'm in my bed or wheelchair and almost never complains about it.  He gets frustrated with some of my overprotective rules like not letting him play on a neighbor's trampoline where there's no adult supervision and too many kids jumping at once, but that's because he really has no idea how terribly precious he is to us, how unthinkable it is for me to let him play three backyards down where I can't protect him from the things that terrify me like kidnappers and broken arms and concussions.  Sometimes he lets his sisters come into his room and play with him, and he sets up their tray tables at dinner, and cuts the tops of their popsicle wrappers for them, and reads to them.  He loves all the things his dad and I love, like race cars, dinosaurs, doughnuts, Transformers, Minecraft, and World of Warcraft.  Seriously, how did we get a kid that good??  He's uncannily wonderful. 

So of course I had a great Mother's Day.  Any day I get to be the mother of these munchkins is a great day.