The shades of us

We have this lovely little book called Shades of Black. I found it while rummaging through the book section at Target one day many months ago, and it has long been one of the kids' favorites. We've read it hundreds of times. I love the fact that it so lovingly and positively reinforces the experience of being Black in terms that are understandable for a toddler or pre-schooler. In my humble opinion, one of the most important things that we can do for our children is to help them to be confident and happy about who they are, inside and out.

Anyway, a few weeks ago we were chatting along, playing in the family room, doing nothing in particular. And Alec announces out of nowhere, "Mommy, Cece is Black." Not for any particular reason, I guess, just the observation at the moment.

So I asked him what color he was. He said "Black." I found this interesting, since although he is half African American, his skin tone during this time of the year is exactly the same as his Daddy's - a beautiful light brown several shades lighter than his sister's gorgeous cocoa colored skin.

I asked what color I was. He said "White." I half-expected pink, but maybe we weren't talking actual color here. Who knows. So I asked him what color Daddy was.

"Daddy is orange."

Orange?

Orange.

What does it all mean? I'm not sure. But at the very least, it means he picks up more than I realize...and it's just the beginning of these discussions without a doubt.

On a completely different note, I'm still trying to figure out what to get the kids for Christmas. They have more toys than Wal-Mart already. We'll try to keep it simple, since they won't play with anything past the 2nd gift anyway. And I will start wrapping the few items that I do have next week. Last year, I had nothing wrapped by December 21st. That was the day that Cece was admitted to the hospital with RSV. Somehow we got everything ready by Christmas but that was a lesson for me!!!

Cece is LOVING the snow we have here in Illinois. She points out the window repeatedly and says, "Look Mommy, NOWING!!!" (pronounced like "snowing" but without the "s" :-) ) She's also eaten about a gallon of snow off of her mittens as she runs to the snow pile as soon as we open the garage door. I bought her a full-body snowsuit off of eBay so she's completely covered with no chance to get a chill in those 30 seconds that I let her adventure out into in the snow. I don't have a picture yet but I'll post one soon. Think snowmobile gear for toddlers, in pale purple. It works.

I'd like them to stay 4 1/2 and 2 1/2 forever. Would that be too much to ask?