When I grow up

What did you dream of becoming as you grew up? The toss-up for me was between a writer and a pilot. When I realized that being a pilot would greatly reduce the time I would be at home with my family, I whole-heartedly decided that a writer was my dream job.

Reality hit in my later years of high school (or dad's insistence that I do something practical won!), the writing dream was put on hold, and I became a business/econ major. So ended my childhood dreams of what I wanted to be when I grew up.

Walter and I used to dream about the career adult Asher would have as we pushed him in his stroller along the trail. Of course we thought of the usual prestigious careers such as doctor, lawyer, actuary (?Walter!), journalist (?Angie!), but we never imagined some of the ones Asher now dreams about.

It will come as no surprise that he dreams of being a rockstar. We still don't know who he has seen rockin' and rollin' like a crazy person, but Asher loves to play his guitar while screaming and dancing around the house.

Another dream of his is to be a firefighter putting out fires and rescuing the world from danger! Grams brought him a fire helmet a few weeks ago and so now his head is protected as he fights the fires that frequently break out in our neighborhood.

A new dream is to be an artist. We saw an artist spraypainting a picture of Spiderman at last week's Farmer's Market which was a huge inspiration to Asher. Just call him the post-it artist!

The most interesting one is his passion for furniture delivery. We had some furniture delivered several months ago, including Asher's bedroom suite. He carefully watched the men put his bed together but I didn't realize the impact it would make on him! We frequently hear him talking about how he wants to have a big belly (?!) so he can be a strong furniture delivery man!

I don't know when practicality takes over career dreams, but I can't wait to see where all of this creativity takes my boy!

Prefer the given

"Does it ding?" I asked the lady behind the card table.

She answered that in fact it does and I quickly tucked it away as my greatest garage sale treasure of the year.

I could hardly wait to get home and watch Asher's eyes brighten when he saw the clocks dinger swing back and forth and heard the chimes pealing out the time of day. This was way better than the educational cow cuckoo clock gift he received on his birthday!

Finally! A ding clock. It seemed his dreams had all come true. Until we went to the lobby of his school yesterday where a beautiful, big, majestic grandfather clock stands, and I realized he will never be satisfied until he has a grandfather clock gonging in his room.

I heard aphrase on my favorite midday show today that reminded me of the grandfather clock dream. Talking about jealousy, they discussed the freedom of being able to "prefer the given." This phrase coined by a great thinker who I didn't catch the name of, has stuck with me today. And I realize that my instincts are no different than those of a three year old.

Usually I prefer anything but what I have.

I have a beautiful new baby but long for freedom.

Walter's job allows me to stay home full time, but I miss the officialness of work outside the home.

Writing opportunities have appeared in my life but I don't feel the urge to write.

Contentment has never come easy for me. Even though my life is so blessed and good, I always long for something else. Sometimes I long for big parts of my life to be different, but the longings that disrupt my contentment most are the daily small things.

It's little things like an attached garage on a rainy day, a warm walk-in closet when I find frost on the clothes in my tiny box of a closet, or a slug-free flowerbed when the buds on my flowers are popped off one by one, that steal my contentment.

If only Asher and I both could prefer the clocks life has given us.

Bunnies, Turtles, and Triceratops

What little boy would want a turtle when he already has a pet triceratops?

According to Asher, our family has met its pet quota through a prehistoric three horned beast, who arrived on March 19 this year. We were informed of the news earlier this week in one of those conversations where I had to hide my face behind a pillow to keep from laughing my head off.

Asher got to pet baby bunnies and a turtle at my moms group this week. That evening, Asher and I told Daddy about our fun day with the animals. I then described to Asher how Aunt Becky used to have pet turtles and how fun they were. Then Walter and I asked if Asher would like to have a pet turtle someday?

This is when we were informed that we already have a pet triceratops!

"Where is this triceratops?" we asked.

"She is in daddy's arms," he replied.

Walter's arms aren't big enough to hold a thousand pound dinosaur, but he was holding a six week old little girl!

Of course she isn't a triceratops, we tried to reason, because she doesn't have three horns.

To this, Asher jumped off of the couch and pointed out the two horns on Amelie's forehead and the one horn next to her nose.

Of course! Why couldn't we see them before?

Maybe the brother/sister relationship will improve now that Amelie is a three horned dinosaur and not a sweet little girl?

They didn't have triceratops carousel animals at the zoo, but here's Asher enjoying a ride on a velociraptor.

Maybe we should be thankful we have a "funny" dinosaur for a pet and not a meat eating dinosaur like this one.