I love him.

We're at the end of the film. Jean Valjean is saying his goodbyes. My eyes are full of tears. Nate leans in and whispers something that I can't hear.  I ask him to repeat himself, sure that we're thinking the same thing.  He whispers again, "they totally picked him for the role of wolverine because he looks so much like a dog."

Nope.  That wasn't it.

magic girl.

She is always listening.  I forget that sometimes.  But this girl is always listening.  And as the Mister and I planned our day, she began to weep.  The pool sounded so much more fun than school.   She cried in my arms.  "I just feel sad, Mom.  It seems like Everett is always with you and I am in school.  I just want to be with you too."

And then I cried a bit too, because this girl is magic.

"Clairegirl, do you know that I miss you when you're at school too?"

I remind her that she alone got to be the baby who would nap in my arms each day.  I remind her of our adventures before the others came.  And then I remind her of her magic.

"You, sweetgirl,"  I whisper.  "You are the one who made me a mommy."  And there is a tiny smile.

She skips out to the car, ready for another adventure.  This one without me.

the best of 2012.

These guys.  This is what I see most mornings before school starts.  For about three seconds.  Then one of the two younger ones will run wild again.  Claire finds the passage.  Nate reads.  Coffee may or may not end up on the rug.  There are questions from the big devotional book.  On this day, Everett sat still to wait to hear from his "debotional" book.  Ingrid was holding a copy of Five Little Monkeys Jumping on the Bed."  Fitting.

Of any habit I can cultivate this year, this is the one that I want to stick.  We mess up and apologize and forgive and mess up again.  But in this house, I want them to know that this is how we spend our mornings.