Evelyn’s first taste of food was a mulberry, plump and dark on my parents’ tree.  Two weeks later, I found a ripe boysenberry perched in the middle of our bramble.  I tiptoed through the patch and plucked it and squished it between my fingers and let the baby take it off my fingers at her own pace.

She has tried banana, tomato, carrot, mulberry, boysenberry, loquat, zucchini, and sweet potato.  Boysenberry is her favorite.  She likes them bitter and barely ripe and warm from the sun.  And when her face is covered in the juice and she is smiling happily at me, I feel like the luckiest woman in the world.

Charlotte will be four in a few weeks.  This year Charlotte asked us if we could celebrate her birthday and if she could have a party and if it could be like the circus.  I said yes, baby, of course we can.

She is finishing up her first year of preschool and her French is phenomenal.  We raised silkworms this year and gave some to her teacher for the class.  They are all in cocoons right now, still and snug, and we are counting down the days until they burst forth.  Charlotte is very curious about them and asks to see the cocoons every morning.

A few days ago, Charlotte learned how to catch a ball for the first time.  We have tried to work on this skill before but she has never shown interest until now.  Donald was over the moon.  He bought a tiny little mitt for Charlotte and every afternoon they play catch together in the yard.  Sometimes I peek out at them and I think that these moments are the reason I became a parent.

What a difference two years makes!

My e-mails tell me that people are wondering where we are and what we are doing.  Some of you are worried that we are dead or that someone is ill or that something is very wrong.  Thank you for your concern – and I am so sorry to leave you hanging!

We are busy, so there is less time to blog.  We are tired, so there is less energy.  And right now we are dealing with a very complicated personal matter, so there is less inclination.

But we are alive and we have our health and I miss blogging and our lives are mostly the same as always, so I will try not to neglect this blog quite as sorely in the future.  Pinky promise.