the 39 steps

for Mother's Day, taher bought us tickets to a broadway show, so that's what we did this past friday night. these days we have a date night regularly, if not frequently. but we haven't gone to the city and seen a show in ages. and doing so on friday recalled, for me, a state of mind that i haven't had in a long time.

it wasn't that we were doing something new- rather, it was that we were doing something old- something that we used to do so often- that i felt like we had gone back in time 3 years.

i felt like a version of myself that i haven't glimpsed in a while, and it was nice.

on another note, as i was driving yusuf to school this morning, one house had a poster with a dated picture of a 2-year-old on it, and it read "happy high school graduation brian! we are proud of you." which made me realize that if their 18 year old was once 2, then my 2 year old will someday be 18. and way taller than me. which i cannot even comprehend at this point.

but it definitely makes me appreciate even more the fact that yusuf loves being cuddled and kissed and tickled. i'm thinking teenagers don't like that quite as much.

i like how you are

yusuf loves elephants, school buses and nooriya. get on the floor and pretend you are an animal- any animal- and you will make his day. tell him what something is and he will answer, "that's right" and nod like a schoolmarm. catch him doing something he shouldn't be doing and he will give you a smile that is positively studded with mischief, but also so charming that you will choose to ignore the transgression. how did he learn to do that? i mean, seriously. also his new favorite thing is to not only wash his hands and face after a meal, but sneak his plate into the bathroom sink as well and give it a rinse. he thinks he's helping, but yesterday i found a soggy, empty raisin box in the sink.

nooriya loves taking ridiculously short naps, spitting up huge amounts of milk and laughing really loudly for almost any reason. tickle her face, bounce her up and down, bring yusuf into her line of sight, and you will be rewarded with giggles that sound like rainbows and butterflies and other summery, shimmery, yummy things. bring a mirror into her line of sight and she turns the charm on, trying to make friends with that baby in the mirror. man, she likes that baby.

just what i wanted...

...although it has nothing to do with me.

yusuf and nooriya's surprisingly lovely relationship, that is. sure, yusuf occasionally takes back a toy or a book that he feels nooriya is stealing from him. but even when he does that, he gives her something else to distract her first. which is rather kind and caring, coming from a 2.5-year-old.

when he walks into the room and sees her, he exclaims, "hi nooriya! HI!" and runs towards her. on her end, she lights up, all smiles, legs kicking, trying to aim her rolling in his direction.

when he wakes up from a nap, he wants to see her. her fussing usually stops when he bounds into the room.

i mean, wow. i know they'll have their not-so-lovely moments, but right now i am loving this. a 2 year old boy isn't gentle with anything (many destroyed belongings of yusuf will attest to this), but with nooriya, he knows that he has to be a little more careful.

and my favorite, favorite part- when she is crying, he'll come over and hold her hand. and coo softly. and give her sweet smiles. and my even MORE favorite part? when he does all this, she stops crying.

it's magical. i hope this lasts, in some form, forever.