Family

One Year Ago Claire & David (and River)

I drove up to Charleston yesterday to pick up my daughter Claire and my grandsons Taylor and River and bring them back with me to Bluffton for the rest of the week. Claire will be 27 in October, Taylor will be 10 in October and River will be 6 months old on June 22nd. Taylor's middle name is Reece and he has been called that all year in his 3rd grade class. They moved from Bluffton to Charleston a year ago and both Taylor and his friend (who also moved to Charleston with his parents Bobbi & Jeff Fitzharris) changed their names from first name to middle. Hence Taylor's friend Kenyon became Storm and Taylor became Reece, but we (family) still call them Taylor and Kenyon (at least for now). Taylor has grown so much taller this year and his head now reaches his mother's shoulders. He is changing rapidly as he leaves his childhood and heads for those hormone laden teen years. He has always been very innocent and either still believes in Santa and the Easter Bunny or has us all fooled. If you knew him better, you'd understand how it's possible for a 9 year old to still be that naive. I'm glad that he is becoming a reader and last time we talked on the phone he told me that he was on page 50 of the first Harry Potter book. He described a bookmark that someone had given him and it was wonderful to hear how excited he was over something as simple as a bookmark. It was a Christian bookmark and I wish I could remember what it said, but I thought it was so sweet that he liked it and now I find myself trying to find him other bookmarks. Claire is such a good mother. I am amazed at how attentive she is to her children. She often talks about how she is "addicted" to baby River and that she just loves spending time with him - just watching his expressions, listening to him coo and laugh and enjoying his every wiggle. She also has to deal with the difficulties; sometimes it is tough to figure out why River cries. Every mother knows the drill - you change the diaper, you rock, you sing, you walk, talk, pat and cuddle - you make sure they are fed, burped and clean, but they still cry as though they were in agony. Claire's identity right now, as with all young mothers, is wrapped up in her children's lives, but she tries to maintain a balance of the Mommy role with the roles she plays with friends and family. Claire's friend Stephanie and I have been exercising a few times every week for about 2 months now. Steph came over this morning and worked out with me. At first Claire watched us and criticiqued! Claire is model thin, so she doesn't need the work out to lose weight and she gets plenty of exercise just from carrying her almost 20 lb baby, but Stephanie and I persuaded her to join us. About 2/3rds of the way through each exercise, Claire would say, "Okay, that's enough." But, like in the old days when I taught aerobics, I just smiled and kept going. I guess I still have that inspiration thing going because Claire (who never did what I told her when she was a little girl) kept going too!