two years old

Before naptime Michael reaches up to me and says " 'nuggle? 'nuggle?" so I put him on my lap and wrap both of us in the rocking chair and he tucks his head into my neck and says, 'Song. Mama, song!' so I sing him a song while I push us back and forth with my toe; and he's so entirely embedded in my arms, so wrapped up, I'm looking at him and I can remember being little, being cuddled up to my parents, enfolded, and it was warm and safe and all of a sudden my throat swells up because I'm happy I can make him feel the same way.

When the song is over I ask him if he's ready for bed, and he says 'Kisses, mama?' so I give him a kiss and put him in the crib and smooth out his blanket; and I know in my mind that he will get older, and he won't want kisses or snuggling, and when I sing he'll say 'Please stop, mom," so I'm just grateful for now, for him, for his two-year-old self; but part of me wishes he won't get any older, ever.

DIY

I do not come from family of Do-It-Yourselfers. I come from a family that is the reverse of do-it-yourselfers, the antithesis, the complete polar opposite.They do not do it themselves: they hire professionals to do it for them. Professional mechanics, professional painters, professional window cleaners, professional plumbers, professional handymen. Professional sprinkler people. Professional You-name-it, they'd-hire-them: my parents would hire professional light-bulb changers, if they existed, that's how hard-core they are. Because, you know, laymen shouldn't mess around with those dangerous ladders and that complicated twisting of the bulb.

This is why it completely floors me whenever Christofer fixes things around our place. Last night Michael broke the DVD player that's built into our tv, and at 10:30 I walked out of our bedroom to find the entire thing in little bitty pieces all over our floor. It looked horrifying in its disarray, incomphrensible; but an hour later the tv was reassembled and working, the DVD tray moving smoothly in and out with the push of a button.

As far as I'm concerned, this is pretty much the equivalent of performing open-heart surgery without medical school, THAT IS HOW AMAZING HE IS.

I don't know, maybe I'm easily impressed? but it sure makes for great marriage.