Luke Chiara and I were at the Melia Family Vacation this weekend, in the Poconos. Aside from seeing everyone together and having the usual competitive games and fun, my favorite moment was when I was pushing Chiara on the bucket swing. Nearby were two kids about six years old, on the saddle swings. They were speaking somewhat softly so I wasn’t paying attention to them until the boy’s voice rose and I heard:

Boy: “When I grow up I’m going to kick you in the penis!”

Girl: “I don’t have a penis.”

Boy: “What? Do you pee out of your butt?”

Girl: “Not exactly.”

Yesterday morning I woke up and showered before the Munchkin woke up, which is very rare. Oh, the luxury of showering in peace and quiet!

After I turned the water off, though, I could hear her tinklling voice as she talked to herself in her bedroom. I dressed and went over to her room and met her in the hallway outside, as she ran toward me. What a happy, beautiful sight she was, all fresh faced, chubby-cheeked and smiling in her cute little shortie PJs. I lifted her up in my arms and gave her a big hug. I love you sooo much, I said to her. Then I stopped and repeated in the singsong voice I use to get her to repeat what I say:

I….

Love….

You!

She looked up at me all smiles and replied, I love you, too!

Oh my goodness! You could have bowled me over with one breath. Too. I know I didn’t teach her that word or when to say it so all I can figure is that she’s heard us use it and figured it all out.

That remark earned Chiara an extra big extra hug!

I took this picture of her a few minutes later. She turned 22 months on this morning!

This past weekend I played in two beach volleyball tournaments! I haven’t done that in years. It was fun. The weather was terrific. And I won prizes both days—third in women’s A and second in co-ed A with Luke (the latter one is misleading because there was just the A division, then Open, so really the competition by the end of the day was AA, although I suppose you could argue that the better AA teams would have played up in the Open bracket). I suppose that might mean I should have played in a tougher division, but since these were the second and third tournaments I was playing in three years, it seemed like being conservative was the better choice. In any case, I wasn’t confident I had the stamina to survive a whole day on the beach under the hot sun, let alone for two days in a row.

I hope to play as often as I can this summer because having lost two entire summers in the blink of an eye, I now realize how easy it is to miss out on experiences and time and not even notice it except in hindsight.