Roscoe Anthony

What words are there for Roscoe??  He has been packed with personality since day one.  Big personality.  Big humor. Big kisses and cuddles and high-fives.  Big demands.  Big emotions.  Big smiles.  Big messes.  Big adventures.  His presence is so larger than life that when I see a picture of him, I feel like he is actually there. He just can't be contained in 2D.

He is teaching me so many things.

Roscoe made me a mama and he continues to blaze the trail with eternal enthusiasm and passion and humor.  Being a parent is full of surprises and new insights into ourselves.  I have loved people in my life, but I have never loved like this. A mother's love really is indescribable.  I think I (finally) understand a smidge of what God must feel for us as His children.  I finally get how He can love me when I feel like such a wreck that keeps making the same mistakes again and again.  Of course, I want Roscoe to be happy and I love when he is in a good mood and loving all over us.  But even when he is tantruming and yelling and disobeying and talking back, I still want to be right there with him, helping him work through it.  I don't love him any less, which continually surprises me (maybe I am not quite as selfish and self-absorbed as I thought I was?), and I am focused more on helping him through it than on myself.  On the good days...  :)

I am just loving this age right now.  I love that he can tell me how he feels and tell me what his dreams are about (fishes and dragons and dinosaurs, most recently).  I love that he spontaneously tells me that he loves me and that Daddy is his best friend. I love that he tells Luka "it's going to be alright, Lulu, I'm right here" when she is upset.  I love that when we call Luka "LuluLemon" that he says he is "RoscoeWatermelon".  I love that he tackles her periodically and, despite her protests, hugs her big and tells her "I'll love you forever, Luka, I'll love you forever!"  I love that he gets an exaggerated look of shock on his face when something surprises him.  I love that he "humors me" and tells me the same placating answers I tell him sometimes.  I even love that he looked at me the other and said, "are you KIDDING me?!" in all seriousness.  I love that when he is sleepy and cold he likes me to hold him just so (on the couch...with a blanket...not that blanket, this one...my feet aren't covered...no, hold me like this...)  I love that for the most part he can't be bothered to eat because adventuring and playing is too enticing, but then he surprises us and devours 3 bowls of oatmeal in one sitting (I think they call that binging) and wants more.  I love that he has conversations with all of his toys (just yesterday he was so proud of his lego duplo for being "so brave").  I love when he wakes up from his nap or in the morning and looks for me in the kitchen and runs into my arms.  I love that he calls quesadillas "quesa-Diwas" like his cousin and still calls his guitar his "goontar".  Every day it seems he comes up with a new saying or a new observation that makes me smile.  He is just really fun to hang out with.

I can't imagine how mothering could get better than this; I am head over heels for these two.  God has this way of surprising me, though, and exceeding my hopes and expectations.  Let's see what this next year brings!