Hide and Seek

So, obviously, my goal to post every day this year has seriously fallen by the wayside. Vacation, colds, now the flu -- life, if you will -- have gotten in the way. And I'm ok with letting them get in the way. I don't feel like I've broken a promise, or a vow (and no resolutions!) to either you, reader, or me (or Grif). I'm still trying to capture a shot of Grif every day, and if I occasionally skip that, I more than make it up with doubles. Either way, I'm still proud of my efforts here, even if I haven't totally stuck to my original intent. Either way, at the end of this year, I'm going to have a huge catalog of family pictures, family fun, and words and memories to remember it all by.

A few days ago, Jim and I were lounging in bed watching TV with Grif in the early morn. Winnie the Pooh came on -- which Grif has never seen or heard of -- and he laughed so hard. Pooh, he said, then paused. And then he chuckled loud and hard, before following it with, That's funny. And then laughed some more.  It was one of those silly, unexpected moments of actually hearing Grif grow up. We laughed for so long.

Today, Grif and I played hide and seek for the first time -- I really wasn't aware he even knew how to play. But I hid, and so did he, and then we would peak out at each other or "find" each other every few minutes. One of these days, I'll post his laugh here -- it truly is magical. We also went for a walk before lunch, taking the dog and getting out into the sunshine. I had to coax him into it, but once we got going, there was no stopping him. He had to run ahead, skip-running down the hills and then running back up the other side as we walked along our neighborhood sidewalks. It melted my heart to see him so happy and active and agile and funny. He turned around at one point to tell me, Mommy, this is so fun!

It's days like this that make me miss Jim the most -- regardless of the fact that it's those first days of any of his trips that are the hardest anyway (he left yesterday). I always feel like I've rushed around to get things done and catch up and take advantage of being able to get those things done cuz he is home. And then inevitably, I'm done erranding and cleaning and doing, and that's exactly when he has to leave. It didn't help that we were both still recovering from the flu alllll week, and now that we are both on the mend, we must part. Still, I can't wait to tell him about hide and seek. And the new park we found today. And the fun we had on our walk. And that I miss him. We miss him.