Yes – my kid is cute, but please stop telling HIM that….

I have 3 boys. Ethan – the oldest – is my brooder – the one always thinking, trying to do good. However, he’s easily distracted and also has a short fuse for his brothers. Give him one or two step instructions & he’ll help you get all the laundry done (& remind him every few minutes which of those two steps he was on – but still, he’ll help). Then he’ll get angry cause while he’s being helpful, his brothers are not – they are “screwing around,” playing, undoing what he just did, etc. (yeah, I know – welcome the world of being a mom, kid – mom’s deal with that all day, every day). He tries though & he likes being helpful. He does worry too much about things that he doesn’t need to worry about but he’s got a big heart & he comes by worrying naturally – he gets it from me.

Now let’s move to Alex – middle child extraordinaire – the ladies’ man, class clown, people pleaser. He’s happy to help with whatever, so long as you wouldn’t actually consider it “work” and other people can see him doing it & pat him on the back 100 times. If it IS actual “work” (that darn dirty word) or there’s no one around to see him & give him credit beyond his family, he’s going to whine the entire time & probably complain because he “always does everything”…. Uh, nope – that would be the parents and/or your big brother, kid…you do the bare minimum to get the credit. He’s not all bad – he does a really good job helping as long as it’s not really chores or if it’s for someone other than his parents – so he’s a good helper for other people. He’s also a very good “friend” – looking out for his friends & making sure someone always has someone or something to play with. He doesn’t like to see anyone alone and definitely not upset – if that’s the case, he’ll charge right in cracking jokes and sharing whatever to cheer that person right up.

Then there’s Cameron – the baby, the runt – the one for whom the rules don’t apply…ever. He’s happy to help with whatever – NEVER – under no circumstances if it’s “work” will he be happy to help. If it’s fun – baking cookies, etc. – he’s up for helping with that but only the fun parts. If that batter gets tough to stir, he’s out….if he can’t eat the dough, he’s out. I shouldn’t say “never” – he is most happy to help keep tabs on everyone else & let you know exactly what they are doing wrong….even if he’s doing that same thing with that person – he’ll continue doing it while telling you that other one is doing that thing you said not to do – Uh? You’re doing it, too…”well, yeah, but that rule doesn’t apply to me, right?” He’s half the size his brothers were at his age and he revels in continuing to be considered “the baby” by everyone cause he’s just so little & cute. We tell him to do something, he smiles & says “no”….um, what? Someone else snickers & tells him how cute he is….ummmm, WHAT? My kid just flat out said “no” to me asking him to put his dish away & that’s “cute” to you cause he bats his little eyes & you think it’s funny? That is NOT helpful to me....He was getting in trouble at school & thought it was awesome – was so proud of it – cause so many people have told him he’s “cute” when he’s in trouble. You know what? He IS cute & I think it’s great that you want to tell him that – but pick your moments. Do NOT tell him he’s cute when he’s being mean, disrespectful, or disobedient. He’ll be the cutest kid in prison one day, too, if you keep that up.

All 3 of my boys have excellent traits. All 3 of them have some traits I really wish they didn’t. I wouldn’t trade them for the world though cause they are my boys – through & through (Cameron is so much my child – it’s scary – looks like me, tattle-tale like me, bossy-butt like me … I was more respectful though – wouldn’t have dared saying “no” to my parents like he does). They have traits from their daddy, too, I don’t get all the blame/credit – Ethan looks exactly like his daddy at that age; Alex is a clown like his daddy & has never met a stranger like his daddy; pretty sure that disrespect thing with Cameron came from his daddy – his mom says it came from Steve anyway. They all like to ham it up though & are quite cute when they do – please feel free to tell them how cute they are during THOSE times 😃

Lullabies

I have always made up little twists on standard lullabies to sing to the boys.  Most involve adding their names in and some have completely fabricated lyrics of my own with just the tune of the original lullaby as I am not nearly crafty enough to create the melody as well.  Both boys like it and have their own favorites. 

With Cameron's birth only a couple of weeks away, the boys are more and more anxious (ok, we all are but they are more vocal) to meet him.  They slept with me the past 2 nights - Friday's excuse was they "missed me" to the point of extreme whining & I was too tired to continue refusing.  They both took turns putting their hands on Cameron - as Alex says "me put my hand Camwin?" ... impossible to resist...followed by "Camwin kick MY hand!" with excitement.  Ethan then wanted to do the same thing and looked like he wanted to say something - I told him it was ok to talk to Cameron.  He started telling Cameron how he was the big brother & Alex was the middle brother and they wanted to see him "on June 7, right Mama?" and then looked at me and asked if we could sing Cameron a lullaby.  I agreed and asked what he wanted to sing.  Ethan didn't know so I asked Alex and he wanted "his song" which means he wanted the one I make up the words to the tune of "Are you sleeping"...Cameron's version now goes like this:

Cameron James
Cameron James

Our baby
Our baby

Mama loves you so much
Daddy loves you so much

Ethan, too.
Alex, too.

We then sang "You are OUR sunshine" and then Ethan remembered he wanted to sing "Hush little baby"....so after those 3 songs, it was time to sleep. 

Last night right at bedtime, there was a thunderstorm - Alex is terrified of thunder.  They slept with me again - Alex would crawl into my skin if he could.  Every crack of thunder had Ethan asking again if Mickey was still bowling or maybe Grandma Recktenwald was bowling now.  While that doesn't make Alex any less afraid of the thunder, it at least distracts him for a minute. 

When the thunder died down, Ethan wanted to sign more lullabies to Cameron.  This time we started with "Hush little baby" and then Alex started singing "Cameron James" - really sweet.  Time for sleep.

Tonight the boys were playing upstairs and all the sudden I heard them singing all by themselves and it went something like this:

Cameron James
Cameron James

Mama's ba-by boy
Daddy's ba-by boy

Mama & Daddy loves you
And Ethan does, too
And don't forget, and Alex does, too

While it's not totally in the melody of the song, it was one of the cutest things I've ever heard.

Spare Time

I have been, as you've probably noticed, very lax in blogging and it's really been bugging me.  I do have a valid reason though.  Anyone with young children, active children, knows how little spare time you have left at the end of the day.  I had been using that little bit of spare time to keep you updated on the cute little stories and events of the boys' lives.  Somehow though, that little bit of spare time seems to have evaporated lately and I can't wait for it to come back.  I have a little bit right now and the energy to put it to use so here's a few stories for the past few days/weeks.

First, most of you know by now (or are finding out as you read this) that Ethan & Alex are going to have a new brother or sister next June (maybe that's why I've had no energy in the little spare time I've had to blog lately).  Trying to gauge Ethan's reaction to this news, I've talked to him lately at bedtime about how much we love him and Alex and how wonderful they are.  Then talking about how much he likes his brother and asking him if he wants another brother or maybe a sister one day - to have even more fun with.  He agreed that might be a good thing.  He's apparently pretty perceptive though or a really good guesser. 

He's in children's choir at church on Wednesday nights.  The teacher doesn't have a helper right now so the parents take turns helping out.  It was my turn to be the teacher's helper the night after this discussion.  After they sang, the kids each got to go up and sit with Miss Anne and tell something they wanted to share.  One little girl got up and said that she was going to have a new brother or sister.  Ethan got up next and said, "My mama is going to have another baby, too and I want it to be a brother.  That would be pretty cool."  I was shocked.  I said, "Ethan, who said that?"  Miss Anne looked at me as Ethan said with a grin and a shrug, "well isn't that what you said at bedtime that night?"  I just laughed it off and said, that wasn't exactly what I had said (which is true and yet not a denial).  Miss Anne just laughed and put me out of my misery by going to the next child.  I didn't discuss it with Ethan again until we were ready for him to really know.

That was this past weekend as we planned to tell our parents and then everyone else on Sunday.  Ethan was super excited.  Alex didn't know what to really think but followed his brother's lead on getting excited.  I asked Ethan if he remembered when Alex was a baby in my stomach and he used to give the baby kisses.  He didn't and wanted to kiss this baby so he & Alex both kissed my belly.  That night at prayers, we got to the end and Ethan added "and make the baby in Mama's tummy healthy, too."  So sweet.

Tonight was even cuter.  I got home from work and the boys came down to see me.  Alex had Ethan's toy tweezers from his medical kit and Ethan had the shot dispenser (whatever that's called) - both of them naked except diaper and underwear.  Alex came over to me and showed me his tweezers and then put it to his leg and giggled.  I said, "don't pinch my baby."  He looked right at me and pointed to my belly with the tweezer and said "baby" and giggled again.  Then Ethan came up and said, "can we kiss the baby again?"  They both did and Alex giggled again.  Alex now is fascinated with my stomach, pointing at it all night tonight and coming over to kiss it.  So cute.  This is a good sign.

So that's my update for tonight.  Hopefully I'll get the energy back soon to blog more because I really do miss it and now that Alex is talking more, there are even more things to share each day. 

Cute and Not so much...

So Ethan has begun to say some really cute things lately about his "boy," Alex.  We keep telling him that Alex is our child, his brother; our baby, his brother; our little boy, his borther.  He still insists that Alex is HIS baby - his child - his boy.  Tonight, for example, Alex was loving on Steve and Ethan decided to get in on it a little.  He went over and said to Alex, "do you know how much I love you?" Alex continued grunting and laughing and playing.  Ethan answered his own question by saying, "because God makes me love you so much because you are dust my child."  It was really just too cute.  Steve tried to explain again that Alex is our child - Mama & Daddy's child just like Ethan is - Alex is Ethan's brother.  Ethan didn't agree - "noooo, he'd dust my child cause God said."  Well, ok - if God said, who are we to argue?  Too cute....

On to the not so cute....that would be the one totally into the terrible two's and yet several months shy of 2 still.  Alex has developed this nasty little habit; it goes something like this:  Alex is laughing and smiling and doing something he's not supposed to be doing and pretending we are all ok with it.  Mama (or Daddy, but usually Mama) says "Alexander David, stop it right now" or "Alexander David!" or "Alexander David, come here right now!"  Alex turns to look at Mama (or Daddy if this happened to be the one time he's being the "heavy") and SCREAMS with a look very similar to the one I was giving him very much like a teenager who is vehemently making his/her point known by screaming "I hate you!"  Yeah, this is so NOT cute and sadly for Alex, tends to create one of only a couple of different punishments:  1) Mama swats his hiney and puts him in the corner to time out or 2) Mama smacks his mouth and puts him in time out.  This of course creates more screaming but in the form of crying with the world's worst fake pout turned real tears but eventually he will learn that screaming at Mama (again, or Daddy) is not acceptible behavior. Yes, that's right - he's not quite 2 years old yet and already getting spanked but nothing else seems to break the dimpled exterior to make him realize I'm serious - if anyone has other ideas on breaking that nasty habit of his, I'm all ears but before I'll actually try them, I want to see you make them work on this particular child who thinks everything is funny - even getting in trouble - unless his hiney or mouth gets smacked that is. 

Back to the cute....tonight I took my sandals off and asked Alex (yes, same angelic demon child mentioned above) to put them in the shoe box by the door for me.  He happily picked them up and ran to the front room to put them away.  He came back to me grunting like Lassie while carrying one shoe - obviously, it was the grunt of "help, come with me please."  I followed him and the panic left the grunt but not the emphasis - he took me to the trash can by the front door which is directly beside the shoe box.  He's holding one shoe and reaching in the trash.  I looked and sure enough, the other shoe was in the trash just out of his reach.  He had accidentally put the shoe in the wrong "box" and couldn't get it out.  Since I threw 3 pee-pee diapers in that can during the course of the rest of the night, I'm extremely happy that he told me about this as soon as it happened so as not to steep my shoes in pee all night.  We got it out of the trash and I had to give it to him for him to put it in the right box as it wasn't acceptable to him for me to put the shoe away.  When both shoes were finally in the "shoe box" rather than the trash at his hands, Alex happily walked away and then turned to look at me saying "hug...hug."  Yeah, you're right kiddo - that ordeal deserves a hug.  [Note:  it's this type of cuteness that makes it really difficult to smack his mouth or hiney when he exhibits the above screaming behavior.]

The Spitting Image

Everyone knows that Ethan is the spitting image of Steve.  Strangers have stopped us (most recently at a local fair we went to) to tell Steve he'd never be able to deny Ethan is his (not that he would anyway) cause there is no doubt - he looks just like his daddy.  However, he has several of my mannerisms - not all of them good.  He's the worrier - the thinker - the one who wants to make sure everyone is ok with what he's doing.  He'll ask his daddy if he can do something and when Steve answers him, he'll then ask me.  Poor kid this tends to bite him in the butt; half the time I say no to what Steve thought was ok to do so by asking twice, he doesn't get to do it - but he continues to ask anyway to make sure everyone is ok with what he's going to do.  If he's in trouble, he is more worried about apologizing and you not being mad at him anymore than about what his punishment is and how long he'll have to sit there.  He'll sit there as long as necessary as soon as he confirms you won't be mad at him anymore. Yeah, I have several of those traits and they aren't really "bad" - but the one that I hate that he got from me is the stubborn attitude and lack of patience.  I always used to say, "I don't need patients, I'm not going to be a doctor"....yeah, that's biting me in the butt today as apparently Ethan has no plans to be a doctor either. 

Now let's discuss Alex.  I've been told Alex looks like me and Steve says it frequently and I've even seen it sometimes sort of.  This past Sunday on the way home from Eastern KY, Alex's ears started hurting going through the mountains so I ended up getting in the back of the van with him.  In trying to distract him from crying, I started to play keep-away with his ball keeping it just out of his reach.  He then stopped crying and just looked at me - almost a "you're so not funny Mama" look.  I stopped in my tracks - for the first time ever I got it - he looked exactly like me.  See, Alex is almost always smiling - he has huge dimples and I don't so I don't see it.  He was deadpan and I could immediately picture some of the photos of me when I was little and he looked JUST like me.  I was amazed and in being so shocked and telling Steve about it, I managed to get Alex tickled and the dimples came out and blew the image, but having seen it once, I could still see it.  I now understand why people say he looks like me.  But just as Ethan looks like Steve & acts like me; Alex acts just like his daddy.  Alex thinks EVERYTHING is funny.  Nothing in life is serious (ok, except severe diaper rash brought on by Augmentin but who can blame him).  Steve even admits it himself - we are going to be called to the school often for Alex cause he's going to be totally rotten stirring stuff up just to make his classmates laugh.  Steve follows this by saying that I am going to be going to the office, he can't cause he'd just laugh and make it worse.

So there's no denying either of these boys belong to either of us.  Ethan acts like me, Alex looks like me; Ethan looks like Steve; Alex acts like Steve.  Life is definitely interesting in the Waters house. 

I'll close with a glimpse of tonight's dinner.  I finished eating and rather than sit at the table and get extremely irritated with both boys not eating, I let Steve stay with them and I went to clean up the chaos that was the living room.  I heard from the kitchen Steve telling Ethan not to do something.  This was immediately followed by Alex saying "No No" and pointing at Ethan repeatedly.  Steve is laughing telling Alex to eat, too.  Alex (because Steve is laughing) continues the "no no" - obviously, this is getting nowhere.  I took some glasses from the front room into the kitchen and when I did, I hear Alex saying again "NO NO" and turn to see him pointing at Ethan who at this moment was actually taking a bite.  Since Steve had told Alex to stop 3 times now, I said in my very firm "do what I say" voice "Alexander David" - that is quite frequently the only way to get his attention.  He whipped his head around to look at me saying "huh?"  I said "stop it right now and eat."  He looked back Ethan and started to do it again (the boys are sitting across from each other and Steve is sitting at the end of the table and I'm now standing at the corner sort of between Alex & Steve).  I said sternly, "don't you do it." And he said again, "huh?"  I said, "you heard me.  Eat your dinner and leave Ethan alone. ... Ethan [who was now just staring] you eat, too."  Alex looked at his brother again and raised his finger half way up.  I said "ALEX" ... he just stopped.  At this point Steve was sitting there trying not to laugh and starting to shake because he could see Alex looking at Ethan and then turning just his eyes to look at me to see if I was looking and then back to his brother thinking about doing it again and raising that finger little by little and then backing down each time I said "don't do it" or said his name.  Alex was totally testing me here and was looking from me to Ethan without moving his head just his eyes and Steve was so not helping.  I then lightly flicked the back of his head when he pushed a little bit further towards the "no" statement to his brother and said "eat" and he looked at Steve saying "huh?" - Steve busted out laughing.  He was looking at Steve like "do I really have to eat, Daddy" and Steve's response was to laugh.  You guessed it, that had Alex cackling and totally negated my stern directions.  Ethan started to laugh too but when I looked at him he stopped and said "I'm full Mom."  I gave up - everyone was done with dinner.  For those keeping score, that's 1 for the boys and 0 for the parents or possibly a -1 since it wasn't really a united front given the sheer laughter from Steve which created my downfall.  Oh well, we'll try again next time.

Spring has sprung in Kentucky

I got home from work today and promptly had Ethan open the window while I opened the backdoor and proceeded to get both boys dressed and shod (I think that's the word) to go enjoy the beautiful weather.  Ethan went out back and immediately said, "MAMA!  The fwowers growed!"  (he totally had to repeat that 3 times for me to get 'the flowers growed' out of what he was saying).  Alex's shoes were not totally on yet when Ethan went outside with a ball in his hands which made that process take longer.  Alex freaked totally thinking 1) his brother was leaving him & 2) he was going out to play without him.  Ethan actually had to come back in and sit with Alex so I could finish getting his shoes on.

The boys had so much fun.  Alex was just wandering around checking out the different balls that had spent the winter in Ethan's play house which were now spread out since Ethan's first order of business was to clean out his house.  Ethan proceeded to ride his "mococycle" (big wheel) and showed me that he is now big enough and strong enough with enough coordination to actually pedal - such a good boy.  Then he remember the important thing - there's sidewalk chalk inside the seat of the bike.  YEAH!  Both boys proceeded to write all over the patio.  To be honest, Alex kept coming inside to try to write on the table and kitchen floor as well.  Ethan & I finally convinced him the chalk was better OUTside.  We have 2 old sponge mops outside the backdoor - mostly because we forgot we had one when we bought another and put the first outside and forgot to throw it away and then noticed a nasty odor in the laundry room and discovered it was the 2nd mop - then forgot to throw it away as well.  Not to worry, the boys put them to good use as erasers for the chalk. 

They continued to play while I started dinner.  All of a sudden I heard from the backyard [no they weren't unsupervised; I could see them out the window, the door was still open and the backyard is fenced and locked with a padlock - they were trapped], "MAMA!  HELP!"  It wasn't a panicky "help" but empathic none the less.  I went to see what he needed as he seemed fine in the window - turns out he was trying to get in the swing and it kept moving on him.  OK - no biggie.  I helped him get in and tried to push him but only got 1 small push in for him before Alex planted himself in front of the swing and refused to move while he tried to either pull Ethan out or climb in with him.  Since this is definitely a one person swing, Ethan agreed that he would let Alex swing for a bit and Ethan would swing later. 

He had alterior motives - he wanted to push his brother.  They both enjoyed this immensely as you can see in the pictures below.  In the video, Alex has just stopped laughing and Ethan was going to push again but was trying to pose also (a habit of his when cameras come out) so I had to tell him to go ahead and then he needed to make sure his brother understood what was going on so said "laugh Alex" at the end.  It would be a longer video but I had to delete pictures off the camera which I've now done so won't have this problem if the situation presents itself again tomorrow.

Ethan, as you an see, proceeded to slide when he wasn't pushing his brother on the swing.  They both played until dinner was ready and apparently worked up an appetite as they then both ate their dinners without much coaxing.  Popsicles for dessert in the backyard and Ethan's turn swinging rounded out our relaxing evening.  It was really wonderful.  So glad for Spring and a backyard in which to enjoy it!

The Green-Eyed Monster

So Ethan was always a Daddy's boy unless he was sick, then he wanted me.  This made sense since Steve was home all day with him until he was 18 months old - lots of quality time.  This didn't really bother me because I still got lots of loves and kisses and snuggle time.  Then Alex came along and was pretty much a Mama's boy.  He didn't want to snuggle with Daddy - he wanted Mama.  From the moment I would walk into his line of sight, he'd be all over me.  This started tapering off a bit lately and the dynamic began to change.

Alex no longer wanted to be with me so much when I was home.  He's totally mobile now and can play so was completely content to do that with any of us - me, Steve or Ethan.  If he hurts himself, Daddy can kiss it just as well as Mama can - he isn't biased either way anymore.  So all of sudden Ethan has started asking me to cuddle with him or even rock him to sleep (which he'll even request right after waking up - he really means for me just to rock with him but since usually when I'm rocking, I'm rocking Alex to sleep, Ethan asks me to rock him to sleep).  This is really the sweetest thing but poor kid - he doesn't get much quality time because the second he climbs into my lap, Alex is ALL over me.  I could have just asked Alex to come to me and snuggle and he'd have told me no and run the other direction, but if his brother climbs up, he is like a little boy to candy - all over me.  He will even try to push his brother out of the way to get "his" spot.  I usually end up with one on my left and one on the right rocking in the chair - not very comfortable as one of them is plenty heavy by himself but I can't very well pick one over the other at that point.

I've realized though that Ethan wanting this time now is partly due to his own jealousy and insecurity.  His brother is now taking more of his time from his Daddy and he used to be able to just climb up on my lap if his Daddy was busy with something else but then Alex came along and was taking that spot, too.  He was not jealous of Alex earlier on - he was too busy being completely infatuated with his brother.  Now, however, it's starting to sink in that he has to share his toys AND his Mama & Daddy with this other kid.  Couple that with everyone telling him what a "big boy" he is now and it's a bit much for him.  I thought I had a problem with him growing out of the "baby" stage but he's having a hard time with it a little bit himself.  Don't get me wrong, there are several things he wants to do when he "gets bigga" but he still wants to be the little boy who gets cuddled and loved on, too.

Alex is a bit outrageous though with his jealousy.  At this point I almost have to get Ethan to come cuddle with me in order to get any of Alex's time at all.  He's too busy to cuddle; even when he's so tired he can't stand up straight, there's still too many other cooler things he could do than snuggle with his Mama.  Unless Ethan wants to cuddle.  That is absolutely not ok with Alex as I've said.  But it's starting to get really bad - he doesn't just shove his brother to the side; he'll smack at him or pull his hair, too.  That is not ok and we need to break that habit quickly.  Steve says when Ethan is on his lap, Alex comes over as well to join them.  But unlike with how he refuses to leave my lap until after Ethan does; Steve says with him, Alex just climbs up, sits a sec and hops back down to play again. 

OK - I admit it's nice that my boys fight over me but when it comes to hitting and pulling hair, I draw the line.  The green-eyed monster is here in the Waters house and now that Daddy is home all the time, it's showing up more often.  My first baby is feeling the pull of Mama & Daddy away from him by his brother and not happy about it and my second baby is just rotten and wants to be the center of everyone's attention at all times.  The latter doesn't deserve to be catered to but the former does warrant a little bit of reassurance so we'll have to find a way to work this out.  Green-eyed monster - I'm on to you so watch out, your days at my house are short lived.

Fight Kying

As most of you know, Steve's job is ending next week - this week really - as Verizon directory assistance in Lexington (where he works) is closing.  As they've been transitioning calls to other locations in anticipation of the close, their call volume in Lexington has drastically dropped.  They offered to let people "surplus" out meaning take off without pay until they close then still get the severance package.  Steve instead has opted to use his vacation time rather than work the 9pm-6am schedules they've given him.  I can't blame him there as there's no way I could work all night and then keep the boys all day.  This started last week that he had vacation essentially and didn't have to go to work.  Which also happened to be when it warmed up outside.

So he had big plans with the boys last Tuesday - they were going to go buy a new kite and go kite flying at the park.  I found this out when I got home from work on that Tuesday.  As we sat down to dinner and said grace, I said at the end, "and thank you for the beautiful day today and hope for more of this tomorrow." Ethan tacked on "and go fight kying tomorrow, too."  I looked at him and then it hit me, "go kite flying?"  E:  "Uh-huh - fight kying.  We gonna go fight kying with Daddy & Owix."  Steve then told me they were going to go that day but errands and naps took up too much time.  OK - have fun boys and think about Mama stuck at work.

So Wednesday last week, I had to be there by 6:00am to help facilitate the technology for a video/web/conference call with our offices in Lexington, Asia & Europe.  As Ethan tends to wake up when I get up and take a shower and start moving around and I really didn't want him up at 5:00am, I took my shower Tuesday night and then slept downstairs on the couch so he wouldn't hear me in the morning.  This worked well in that he didn't wake up when I went to work; however, I also didn't wake up when he woke up puking at 3ish.  The miraculous part of this is that Steve didn't wake me up for it either.  He does NOT do puke.  However, Ethan had slept with him that night and had managed to puke, not in the bed, but off the side of the bed onto a pile of clothes.  Steve had only to remove Ethan's pillow case from the pillow and wipe Ethan's mouth to clean up the puke.  Realizing this made me especially happy that I hadn't gone upstairs in my sock feet to give goodbye kisses which I'd only decided against doing at the last minute.  Stepping in puke at 5:30 in the morning isn't a nice feeling.  So that was fortunate for me and when the boys & Steve did finally wake up, Steve was able to just take the pile of puked on stuff to the washer.

Unfortunately for Ethan, he had caught the stomach bug Steve, then Alex, had over the previous weekend.  Unfortunately for Steve, Ethan wasn't done puking.  And then unfortunately for Alex (& Ethan) this meant kite flying would have to wait another day.  I got periodic updates through the day, including that he puked all over the couch at one point and the comforter lovingly referred to as "mama's blanket."  The next time, Steve managed to give him the puke bucket (hospital basin) and the trash can.   Sadly, Alex had throw away the remote to our surround sound earlier and Steve hadn't noticed until AFTER the puking in the trash can.  Steve was less than thrilled as he actually had to clean that off.

I left work a little early (I'd been there since 6 so didn't feel badly about that) and went to get Ethan some gatorade as the poor kid hadn't kept down anything all day - crackers, flat ginger ale, nothing.  I got a new remote while I was there as it wasn't working after Steve cleaned it but ended up being able to clean the existing remote well enough to make it work perfectly again.  When I got home, Ethan waited for me at the door asking, "Mama - did you bwing me a dwink?  I don't feew good."  I gave him the gatorade and you'd have thought I gave him a shot of steroids or straight adrenaline because he immediately had energy again.  He managed to keep that down and then as he had applesauce for dinner while we ate chicken (again, poor kid) he said, "but I weally wanted some chicken, Mama."  He ate his applesauce though - baby steps and again prayed during grace to "pwease go fight kying" the next day. 

I then asked him to say "kite" - he obediently said, "kite."  Say "flying" - "fying."  Say "kite flying" - "kite fying."  Me:  So what do you want to do with Daddy tomorrow?  E: "Go fight kying!"  OK so he can say the words but the excitement jumbles them and honestly - it's just too cute to correct him. 

We finally got to go shopping for a kite on Friday but struck out the first 3 places we tried - including Sam's and Walmart - so had to postpone till Saturday.  Saturday was cold - so we did find kites but it was too cold to go fly them.  Sunday was the same.  So Ethan now has his kites and is patiently awaiting the next springy day so he can go fight kying with Daddy & Owix.  I personally would like to go also but will have many opportunities so won't deny them of the first shot they get just because I'm working.  As it looks right now, they may get to go on my birthday, Friday.  I just hope they get nice weather and I get pictures.

Dinner Conversation

I had to make a quick trip to Walmart after getting the boys today so rather than deny them food for the time it takes to bake the chicken I had planned to fix; I got a rotisserie chicken while there. When we got home I fixed cheddar broccoli rice - a quick 10 minutes for something they both eat well and we'd be ready for dinner. While I was fixing the rice, Ethan & Alex were playing right beside the gate (an indication of how hungry they were, I'm sure - trying to be as close to the table as possible). Dinner conversation really started at this point.

I heard Alex babbling and Ethan said, "da wat [rat]? Watigan [Ratigan]? Don't say that word." Alex, "huh? daa, uh” (I'd translate that for you, but I have no idea what he said). Ethan, "Dust don't say that word, Watigan. He's dust a bad wat." (We have digital cable and occasionally will purchase a movie for Ethan if he's been really good and we're really sick of the movies we own. About 2 months ago (or more) we rented "The Great Mouse Detective" in which the villain is a big rat named Ratigan and you were supposed to only whisper his name if you had to say it at all because he was scary and I guess saying the name might make him show up? I didn't pay close enough attention to know why they didn't want to say the word. Anyway, he watched it twice, 2 months ago and remembers it quite well still, apparently.) They continued their babble a few minutes more before I told Ethan he could take the gate down.

Ethan, "It's dinna time, Owix! Yeah, dinna...." He promptly got in his seat and Alex went to stand beside his and looked at me and said "daaa" sort of like "ummm hello, I need your help now please." As I walk towards Ethan, who is now sitting at his seat in front of his plate of chicken, he said "how come you didn't give us wice?" Me: "The rice isn't done yet sweetie. Just a minute more and I'll give it to you but you can start on the chicken." E: "Mmmmm, dis is good chicken. You made good chicken, Mama." (keep in mind, I bought the chicken cooked and basically cut it and put it on his plate - but hey, I'll take it). Me: "I make good dinner, huh? Well good then you should eat every bite." E: "Uh-huh. It's good dinna, Owix. It's yummy for us." (seeing me bringing him the rice) "And here comes the wice. Owix, this is gonna be a weally good dinna." I go to put the pot back on the stove and Ethan says, "we have to say God bless, Mama." (since many prayers start with or contain, "God bless..." (this food or Alex or Ethan) he calls prayers "God bless").

We grasp hands and say grace and you can't even begin to imagine how cute it is to see Alex & Ethan reach across the table to try to hold hands - they can't reach no matter how hard they stretch. I then put Alex's plate in the freezer for a minute to cool the rice and was carrying my plate to the table. Ethan said, "you dust need to cool mine off, too, Mama. You need to put it in the frigahator." So I did - and got myself something to drink; then got both plates out and gave them back to the boys and sat down so we could eat.

I noticed Ethan's milk, which was full when he sat at the table, was now empty. Me: "Did you drink all of your milk already?" E: "Uh-huh. I need some mo moke." (he has a habit of filling up on milk or juice so he won't eat dinner) Me: "Well you need to eat more of your dinner and then I'll get you some more." E: "I don't get chocolate moke at bedtime." Me (thinking, were we talking about chocolate milk?): "No, you don't get chocolate milk at bedtime but if you eat more of your dinner, I'll give you some chocolate milk and then you can have some cookies for dessert." E: "Ok. No, you dust said I could have eem & eem's." (at Walmart he asked for candy and I told him we already had candy at home - M&Ms from Nana. He wanted them and I told him he could have them after dinner.) Me: "Oh, I forgot. I did." E: "I'll eat my dinner and have some eem & eems and chocolate moke...who gave you and Alex, Mama?"

Me: "You tell me. Who gave me Alex?" E: "God did." (Ethan slept with me Saturday and kept telling me as he was going to sleep that he loved me. I told him I loved him, too, and I was glad he was my baby boy and that God had given him to me because he knew I needed him to be my baby boy. We then talked a few minutes about how God gave us Alex and Daddy and put us all together because we would love each other and I'd be a good Mommy for him and Daddy would be a good Daddy and he and Alex would be good baby boys, etc) Me: "That's right." E: "And who gave us Daddy?" Me: "You tell me." E: "Isaiah [the son of his babysitter] did." Me: "Noooo." E (chuckling): "GOD did!" Me: "That's right." E: "He's dust a good God." Me: "Yes, He is." E: "What is God, Mama." Me (thinking he probably had a thought on this already): "Well, what do you think?" E: "He's dust our fwiend and He's dust weally good." Me: "Yes, He is our friend. He is a really good God, huh." E: "Yes, He is a good God and He's our friend and He gave us Daddy and Owix...Owix, is that good chicken?" (ok - like the dessert conversation he is now apparently done with the God conversation so we're moving on.)

Alex eats dinner quite well when you ignore him. As soon as you start talking to him (as Ethan just did), he loses all interest in dinner and is ready to entertain. He continued the conversation all by himself at this point - babbling and laughing with Ethan. I had to tell Ethan a few times to eat so he could have dessert. About halfway into the multiple conversations, I had realized I would be blogging about this tonight. Partly because it was really cute but also to explain that it dawned on me why it takes Ethan so long to eat dinner. He is too busy socializing to eat. He has your undivided attention because all you are doing is eating so he can get some good QUALITY talk time in and he is quite the chatterbox as I've mentioned. I have the sneaking suspicion Alex will be the same way when he can really talk instead of babble & grunt. But the conversation wasn't done at that point.

Nope - we just went full circle... E: "Mama, you make weally good dinna. Dis is dust yummy." To prove his point he picked up a fistful of rice and shoveled it in and licked his fingers. I didn't complain about not using a fork because he HAD been using the fork and honestly this got a bigger bite in his mouth and sped up the process. Alex did allow me to feed him a couple more bites of rice and most of his chicken between bursts of laughter and babbling with his brother. Ethan said one more time, "Owix, isn't dis good dinna." Alex shook his head "yes." Such sweet boys and such nice dinner conversation - even if it was all over the map.

Pete & Repeat

I've mentioned before how Ethan will boss Alex around some or more to the point, tell him to do whatever we've told him to do.  I am realizing (yes, I know I should have caught this sooner) that he's not bossing Alex - he's just repeating me.  Here is how this occurred to me:

When Alex is fussy, I'll give him his paci (which is why he was fussing anyway) and tell him to "plug it up" or "plug it up, buttercup" (in a joking way, of course).  Saturday, Ethan handed Alex his paci just out of the blue - Alex wasn't even fussing.  As he gave it to him, he said "Pwug it up, Buttacup."  Clear as can be and has since said it everytime he hands Alex the paci and half the time laughs as he says it - I guess it sounds funny even to his ears.

I also call the boys various pet names - they usually pop out of my mouth based on a rhyming sound to whatever was going on.  Recently I've been calling Alex "puddin" or "puddin popsiscle" or even "puddin popsiscle breath."  Today, when I picked up the boys, as I strapped Alex in the car, I said something to Alex and called him "puddin."  Ethan said, "yeah, pudding popsiscle, pudding popsiscle breath.  Right, Mama?" 

So if we didn't before, we definitely need to watch what we do and say more closely because Mr. Ethan has the best memory of any child I've ever seen.  At least he's repeating cute things in a nice way.

Then there's Alex - who repeats everything his brother does but not always in the best way.  If the gate is up between the kitchen & living room and Ethan is helping to clean, he throws his dirty socks and clothes over the gate into the kitchen; same with his cups, etc.  If the gate is down, Ethan puts them in the sink & the clothes in the basket.  Alex isn't so much interested in that aspect though.  He just sees the throwing part and decides that's the one to do.  Toys go in the toy pile - unless Alex puts them away - he throws them over the gate.  Clean clothes from the basket of folded clothes at the foot of the stairs - yeah, those would be fun to throw onto the kitchen floor also.  Friday night as I fixed dinner, I put Alex in the corner twice and gave Ethan the same pair of clothes 4 times to put back in the basket (if the question is why didn't I just take the clothes upstairs - I was really trying not to burn dinner and I tend to cook things on higher temps than they really require because I stupidly believe that will cook it faster but regardless of my reason it's not the best idea for me to leave them alone on the stove).  I do have to say that if Ethan is in trouble for not cleaning up a mess he made, Alex does jump in to help clean it up and will also help Ethan find his sippy if he loses it by looking around like Ethan does.

However, he also does things that his brother does that are not at all good and sometimes ends up hurting himself which then gets Ethan in trouble.  Ethan has a nasty habit of climbing on anything he thinks he can stand on and jumping on and off of the furniture.  Alex now follows suit and climbs on anything he can and invariably falls off onto something else and hurts himself.  Alex also gets up on the couch and runs from one end to the other and tries to jump off the arm - something he watched Ethan do.  Ethan has been told numerous times not to jump on the furniture.  He doesn't seem to think "because I said so" is a good enough reason but now that Alex has gotten hurt a time or 2 following Ethan's lead, I hope he's finally learning but I won't hold my breath.

So each of them is "learning" and repeating the behavior of his elders - Ethan repeats me & Steve and Alex repeats his brother.  Maybe if Steve & I can become the perfect roll models, Ethan will follow that behavior exactly and then Alex will follow that example and he'll be completely perfect, too, and the terrible 2's will never enter our house again.  Right?  That's how it works isn't it?  Hey, a girl can dream can't she?

Ring Around the Rosey

When we got home from work today, I immediately put dinner in the oven - fish - so we could actually eat before 7:00pm.  If I'm late leaving work, by the time I pick up the boys and get home, it's sometimes 6:30 which means dinner won't be ready till 7:00 and Alex is usually so tired by then he won't eat.  Tonight we were home by 5:45 so could eat dinner at a reasonable hour.

It's a really good thing because Alex was already cranky - not sure if his nap wasn't long enough or he was just hungry or it's his teeth or what but he was not a happy camper.  So in the living room, I tried to get him interested in something other than whining.  Finally, he sat on my back and I let him slowly flip over to end up on the floor - sort of a controlled fall / somersault.  This had him laughing which is where his brother stepped in to help. 

Ethan helped Alex up from the floor, held both his hands and started turning in a circle with Alex saying, "Ring around the rosey, ashes, we all fall down."  He promptly fell to the floor taking Alex with him and they both rolled around in fits of laughter.  Ethan got up first and I thought I'd tell him the whole song so I sang for him, "Ring around the rosey; pocket full of poseys; ashes; ashes; we all fall down."  He then repeated it with me - all the while Alex is still laughing on the floor.  Alex finally got up and Ethan took his hands again and this time sang the full song with him and they fell together laughing uproariously again.  This time though, Alex hopped up when Ethan did and held out his hands to do it again.  They repeated this - with Alex initiating - about 15 times usually falling way before Ethan was done singing.  In fact, one song lasted through three falls and the laughs rolled on.  It would have continued until dinner was ready except that on the last "fall down" Ethan pushed a bit too hard and Alex hit his head on a toy on the floor.  Oh well, nothing lasts forever.  So much fun to watch though and Ethan helped Alex back up telling him he was "sowwy, Owix" and kissed his head so it was all good in the end.  Such a good big brother.

Mr. Attitude

Alex got a Valentine that I am now thinking he fully understood when I read it to him. His Valentine from Mama & Daddy had a cute puppy dog on the front and it said:
Happy Valentine's Day to an incredibly cute, lovable son...
[Inside] You have no idea how many times this has kept you from getting in really big trouble.

Maybe I just didn't notice how much his pushes the envelope trying to get away with stuff until yesterday. Either way, I've now noticed and I have no clue how I'll make it till the "terrible two's" are over - especially given that he's not even 15 months so we have a long haul before 2 years even.

He wants whatever Ethan has. Ethan will give it to him and get something else; Alex immediately drops item 1 and wants item 2. The only positive outcome of this is that he is completely bottle free and has been for about a month because he wants Ethan's sippy so we just stopped giving him a bottle, even for bedtime which up till then, he'd still been using. He didn't even notice. Why? Because Brother had a sippy so he wanted one - really he wanted Ethan's sippy but whatever, it's a sippy. Ethan occasionally gets Sprite which Alex isn't allowed yet and Ethan has 2% milk to Alex's whole milk or we wouldn't care at all what cup he took. And by "we" I totally mean Steve & I as Ethan has an absolute conniption fit when Alex dares to take Ethan's cup - even when they do both have the same drink. Oh joy.

Of course, it doesn't help when we tell Alex to stop doing whatever or give Ethan's toy back or give Ethan's cup back or whatever and Ethan pipes up in a nasty little tone, "YEAH OWIX. Stop it!" Even telling Alex to come to us, Ethan tries to "help" us parent. Me: "Alex come here please. Alexander David - come here right now." Ethan: "Owixanda Davit. Come to Mama. Come right now. Come to her. OWIXandA. Come to Mama. (pause) Mama, he's dust not listening to you." Uh - yeah, cause he can't hear me over you telling him.

Tonight at dinner he did it again. Alex was picking his bowl up which usually precedes him flipping it over onto the floor. As I'm not a fan of picking up spaghetti off the floor, I said "No sir. Put that bowl down." Ethan: "Owix! Don't pick you bowl up. Dust leave it on da table." Me: "Ethan listen. I am the parent and Daddy is the parent. You are the child and Alex is the child. You do not tell him what to do. We tell him what to do and we do not need your help. Do you understand?" Ethan: "Yes. (pause - nasty tone) Owix, you dust need to eat you dinner!" Me: "Ethan Tanner - do not tell him what to do. The only person you can tell what to do is yourself. Not Mama, not Daddy, not Ethan...I mean, not Alex. Just Ethan - NOT Alex. Understand?" (yeah ok so he flustered me so much as I was trying to save Alex's plate from the floor again that I said the wrong name. I so hate that).

So anyway, Alex has 2 parents and a parent helper and he listens to none of us. He tonight sat quietly on the floor and proceeded to take every piece of paper & magazine out of the cubby beneath the table in the living room. The table he is told multiple times EVERY day not to touch. He did this while I cleaned the kitchen and Steve watched the news. He'd been quietly playing with a toy so Steve didn't notice when he switched to quietly removing all the stuff he's not supposed to touch. Steve then got to bellow repeatedly to get Alex (& poor Ethan who did nothing except watch Alex remove all the stuff) to pick it all up and put it back. Ethan was doing just that as Alex was taking more things out. I could hear all this from the kitchen and thought, "oh good, he doesn't just do it to me; he does it to his daddy, too." After the 5th or 6th, "Alex, NO! Put it back! Give Daddy the paper." I went to the gate and said in my best "do it now" voice, "Alexander David, come here right now." He looked at me and grunted "huh?" "Come here." He came over and I bent down to his level and looked him right in the eye and said in a very loud, stern voice, "stop taking stuff you know you aren't supposed to have and go clean it up." He'd been smiling when he came to me but as I spoke his little lip quivered. I stood up and he walked back over and started picking up the stuff, quivering lip and all. Steve actually started to laugh because of the expression on Alex. That is precisely why I end up doing most of the discipline I guess - because Steve can't chastise without cracking up - he couldn't even give the stern look to start the talk if Alex had looked at him with the grin he'd given me. I hate having to do it but I'll never get through the official terrible two's if I don't stand my ground now.

So these are just a few examples but he is totally "Mr. Attitude" these days. You tell him something and he ignores it. He just grunts at you like "whatever" (which I'd hoped to wait till he was a teenager to get that attitude) and goes about whatever he was doing. He whines to get Ethan in trouble if Ethan doesn't give him whatever he was playing with. What Alex hasn't yet realized is that if we are in the room when he whines for that effect, it doesn't work because we can see that Ethan didn't do anything. Of course, Ethan hasn't quite realized that either because he still insists, "I don't know what's wrong. I didn't do anything." When he gets fed up though and pushes Alex down, that's when he gets in trouble. On second thought, maybe Alex does realize that and therefore continues to harass Ethan until Ethan has had enough and pushes him away which then gets Ethan in trouble and gets Alex what he wanted. I'll have to pay better attention to that aspect tomorrow to see if he is that conniving at his young age and nip that in the bud quickly.

Brotherly Love

I think I've mentioned before that Alex likes what we call "Mama time" where he'll sit with me in the recliner & snuggle for a bit.  Lately, Ethan has decided he wants to do this, too, only he calls it "snuggle time." 

"Can I have some snuggle time wiff you, Mom?"
"Sure"

Sometimes, he wants to join Alex & we'll have group snuggle time - good thing the recliner is sturdy.

Well, Ethan has one of those Cars chairs that looks like a mini-couch that also folds out into a small bed.  The other day he was having snuggle time with me in the chair & Alex was fully enthralled with Ethan's chair/couch.  Ethan started to climb down & said, "I dust want some snuggle time wiff Owix.  I'm dust gonna snuggle wiff him."  At this point Alex had left Ethan's chair and was dragging his blankie back and forth around the living room.

Ethan went to his chair saying, "come heah Owix.  Dust come ova heah & have some snuggle time wiff me.  Let's dust snuggle.  Come on.  Come on, Owix."  As Alex came to join him, Ethan sat to one side leaving a spot for Alex.  "Right heah.  Theah you go Owix.  Now let's snuggle."  He then put his arm around Alex, who happily laid his head on his brother.  They sat contentedly for about 2 minutes before they both lost concentration.  However, they did repeat this a few more times & per Steve, the next day, too.

Short & Sweet

That title describes both this post & Ethan (though I'm quite sure, the short part won't apply to him as he grows up).

Today Ethan took about an hour nap.  Alex, on the other hand, took a 3 1/2 hour nap.  Ethan had also awakened at dawn (his norm) while Alex slept about an hour longer.  Each time Ethan tried to play while Alex was sleeping, we'd tell him to play quietly so he didn't wake up Alex.  He wanted to play so badly but Alex has been really tired lately and we were trying to let him get some rest. 

This afternoon, when Alex finally woke up, Ethan was playing and Alex was completely disinterested ... but still, Ethan wanted to play WITH him.  So Ethan said, "Owix, you can dust come wiff me ovuh here.  You can dust come, too, and we can spend some time together."  He then looked at me when Alex wasn't paying attention and said, "isn't that a good idea, Mama?  For us to spend some time together?"  I agreed that it was so Ethan went over and got in front of Alex to get his attention.  "Come on, Owix.  Dust come ovuh here wiff me and we can pway & spend some time together."  This time Alex nodded his head and followed Ethan to the corner where he'd been playing.

He hadn't awakened Alex to play - he waited for him to get up but then he really wanted to play and was really very sweet about asking & getting Alex to join him.  I realized he'd really paid attention today though when as he was going to bed tonight, he said, "I'm dust going to way down here and get some west.  I dust need some west now, Mom."  Alex got his rest earlier in the day - so now Ethan thought it was time for him to get some, too.  Such a sweet kid.

The Pillow Fight

Last week Steve posted a status on Facebook about how he & the boys had had a pillow fight in the living room but Mama probably wouldn't approve.  I chimed in to comment that I wouldn't object to the pillow fight as long as they cleaned up after themselves as I'd just cleaned the living room the night before.  Saturday, on our way to Makenzie's birthday party, I asked Steve if he'd seen my comment.  He hadn't so I told him about it.

Ethan, who was supposed to be napping in the backseat, was instead listening to us.  He perked up and said, "Mama, I was ka-powing Owix."  I totally did not understand this however as I wasn't anticipating the word "kapowing" to come from him.  I looked at Steve for translation and he asked Ethan to repeat it.  I still didn't get it but Steve was able to translate perfectly.

So I asked Ethan, "you were ka-powing Alex with the pillows, huh?"  Ethan's reply:  "Uh-huh.  Daddy taught us how to do it."  So apparently, that's where this word came from.  Daddy takes the pillow and pushes it or softly swats it at one of the boys and says "ka-pow."  They in-turn, do the same with other pillows and hysterical laughter ensues. 

Tonight, I was in the kitchen fixing the boys dinner and they were gated into the living room playing.  Throw the dishwasher & the fan over the stove, I suddenly heard what I thought was crying.  I walk towards the living room and hear "ka-pow" and immediately thought, "oh great, now he's doing it with no supervision and was too rough."  I get to the living room and see Alex sitting with his paci half out of his mouth, his blanket completely forgotten on the floor laughing uproariously as Ethan "ka-powed" him one more time.  Ethan was being gentle and they were having a blast. 

Alex still isn't feeling well so while Ethan played, Alex had pretty much been in the same spot sitting on my blanket holding his blanket and sucking the paci.  Ethan told me he thought Alex wanted to laugh so he thought he'd ka-pow him to make him laugh.  Such a thoughtful brother and it had the effect he was going for.  Following this little bought of "ka-pow,"  Alex went over with Ethan to all the toys and proceeded to play happily until dinner was ready.

Favorite & Least Favorite Words

Ethan's favorite word or should I say, question, is Why?  The answer we've all heard from our parents, "because I said so," has no impact on Ethan.  He responds to that one with "why did you said so, Mom?"  Oh great.  I've spawned a child that needs logical reasoning like me - guess I should start compiling that "book of instructions" for him like the one I apparently requested for Christmas when I was little.

Steve thinks he's found the answer.  He has started explaining to Ethan that God made everything.  This morning Steve & Ethan wanted to show me what Ethan has learned so far:

Steve:  Ethan, who made snow?
Ethan (with excited animation in his voice & sparking eyes, smiling):  God did!
Steve:  Who made rain?
Ethan:  God!
Steve: Who turns the heat up outside?
Ethan: God (snickering)
Steve:  Who's the best in the world?
Ethan:  MOMMY!
Steve:  Awwwwack!  Daddy! (& here I thought this was rehearsed and "God" was suposed to be the answer.  Nope - Steve was hoping for Daddy to be the answer).

Apparently though his focus had been on answering why questions with God answers.

Leave your brother along - Why? - Because God wants you to be nice to your brother.  He's watching.
Take a nap. - Why? - Because God wants you to rest. 

Brilliant idea because apparently once you say, "God said" or "God wants" Ethan drops it . . . until now.  He finally came back with "Why, Daddy?  Why does God want me to weave Owix awone?"  So Steve comes out with the story of Cain & Able as the answer.  I honestly think this response utterly confused Ethan to the point he no longer remembered the question which is what ended the why's for the moment.  But I don't care; as long as the Alex harassment stops & the "why" barrage ends, Steve can explain whatever he wants.

Ethan has a favorite question, but Alex has a least favorite response . . . "No!"  Alex actually listens when you say "no" and will stop whatever it was (usually).  However, not without instant tears.  The fact that you said "no" means that you caught him and he has to stop.  The fact that he has to stop, breaks his heart into a million pieces.  I was once asked in reference to Ethan & his cuteness, how I could tell him no.  My answer: "oh, you can."  With Alex, it's even worse because with those dimples and that quivering chin and tears, it is so hard to stick to it and not cave.  But I steal myself & repeat the "No" and try to distract him. 

Ethan never had that reaction to "No."  Then again, rotten child that he is, he rarely listened to it anyway.  But Alex hates to hear "no," hates more to be in trouble and doesn't even like when Ethan is told no or gets in trouble.  He is definitely my people pleaser but also gets his little feelings hurt so easily.  I sometimes think he thinks he's in trouble just because of my tone on "NO."  This is because he'll cry but come suck up (& beg) at the same time.  The simple "NO" didn't mean he was in trouble, of course, but he would be if he didn't listen.  I'm just stern so he knows I mean it.  Poor kid - he makes me feel like such a mean Mama sometimes but I know I love him & he still loves me so I guess I'm doing something right.

Even with the constant why's and the tearful no's, I think I'll keep them both.  They're too cute to give them away.  Even if I do say I want to sometimes, I wouldn't know what to do with myself without them. 

Alex the Communicator

So Alex isn't quite talking yet but don't mistake that to mean he can't tell you what he wants.  I've been told that when I was little, I had my own language that only Megan understood.  Apparently I would say something in total garble and Megan would translate and then I would shake my head that, yes, that is what I had said.  I assumed it would be similar with Alex & Ethan as I thought that was a trait common among siblings.  Nope - I was mistaken.

Don't get me wrong.  Ethan will still tell us what Alex wants but he does that all on his own.  He's not "helping" Alex.  For example, he didn't ask Alex what he wanted for Christmas and then translate.  Nope - he just looked at Alex and then looked at me and said, "he wants a drum for Christmas."  Unless he's telepathic, which I doubt, he just wanted Alex to get a drum for Christmas so he could play, too...and so he could have a little band with his guitar (that he asked for) and a drum for Alex.  When Alex tries to tell us something, Ethan lets him get it out fully so we can understand.  I think that's actually helping Alex communicate better.

Alex has a very expressive face - from his twinkling eyes, to his deep dimples to his cute little mouth.  He uses all of these to make his point.  He mostly grunts - and he has a few different grunts.  There's teh "uh" - low key, used to get your attention so you look to see what he has or to say "here, you can have this."  He'll use that calmly to make himself known.  However, if you don't pay attention, he'll do an angry sounding "ack, uh, uh, aaaaa, uhhh, ack, uh, uh" with no pause for breath until he has your undivided attention.  Then he'll point or grab or something so you know what he wants.  When you figure it out, you ask, "do you want up here?" or "do you want that balloon?" or "you can't reach it?" and he'll firmly - with both dimples showing & grin blazing, shake his head yes, vehemently.  He grunted last week at Eileen's house.  I looked and he was holding Amelia's rattle.  I said, "did you steal Amelia's toy?"  He grinning big and shook his head, yes.

He also has the excited, "ack, ack, ack, ack, ack, ack..." - just because he's so happy & likes the sound of his own voice.  He did this the other day until I thought I'd lose my mind.  I yelled (or maybe bellowed), "ALEX!" to be heard over him.  He stopped & looked at me and said, "huh?"  I said, "stop that.  Be quiet.  Do you understand?"  Without missing a beat, he excitedly shook his head, NO, and started back up with "ack!"  Steve laughed so hard, he gave himself a coughing fit and said, "well, I guess that answers your question."

I overstated, or maybe understated, the first part of this.  I shouldn't say Alex isn't talking yet as he does say "Ma-ma," "ba-ba," and "ba" (which is both ball and bath as he loves baths) as well as "buh-buh" (which is bye-bye).  I think he says "da-da" occassionally also.  However, he rarely does this on cue.  Steve asks him to say "daddy" and he almost always replies with a devilish grin & "ma-ma-ma."  Quite the imp.  So you see, he is quite communicative as these few words as well as the tone & type of grunt typically get his point across.

Even Ethan fully understands what Alex needs or wants.  If I'm in the kitchen in the evenings when Steve is at work and Alex starts grunting, I'll ask Ethan what he wants.  The answer is almost always "he's stuck" or "I don't know."  The "stuck" part means first off that Ethan actually looked at Alex and discovered that he was either between the couch & loveseat, behind the recliner or trying to scale the gate to the stairs and truly got himself in a position he couldn't get out of.  If the answer is "I don't know" - it could still be one of the previous stuck situations but Ethan didn't want to break his concentration from what he was doing to find out; or it means Ethan was "playing" with Alex & Alex was tired of it and Ethan didn't want to tell me that Alex just wanted Ethan to leave him alone.  With this response, I'll tell Ethan to ask Alex what's wrong.  If the latter was the issue, I'll hear, "I'm sowwy, Owix.  I'm done, Mama."  However, it's just the concentration thing, I'll either hear again "he's stuck" because now Ethan has looked at his brother or "what's wong, Owix?"  Then Ethan will tell me wha the problem is:

• He's dust tired, Mom = Alex took his blanket and paci to the stairs and looked longingly upstairs or he took the blanket & paci and laid his head on the couch.
• He dust wants you, Mom = Alex is standing with his blanket at "my chair" patting it
• He wants his "linus" (aka Alex's blanket's name) = either Ethan found it & gave it to Alex and the grunting stopped or that Alex is standing in the middle of the floor with his paci & no blanket near him & Ethan doesn't see it anywhere

Other things he wants could be just out of his reach and Ethan will tell me he wanted whatever it was & usually that he got it for Alex.  He's really an excellent brother.  Occassionally, however, the issue is that he wants what Ethan has and Ethan doesn't want to share.  Ethan then has to either get Alex another toy to play with or...SHARE.  That is unless that "something" that Alex wants from Ethan is Linus in which case, Ethan has to give it to him; after all, that blanket is like an appendage & you can't take someone else's arm.

So Alex is 13 1/2 months old and just about as communicative as Ethan.  This probably means that next year at this time, I will look very forward to going to work as that's likely to be the only place I'll get some quiet time.  Ethan talks from sun up to son down (meaning when he goes to sleep) - I'm fairly certain Alex is well on his way to that same schedule.

Snow Day...FINALLY!

So yesterday we finally got the snow everyone else in our family (ok, those in Illinois & Eastern KY & Virginia anyway) have gotten and bragged out.  We didn't get nearly as much as they've had but it was enough for us.  We hadn't asked for much anyway, just enough to go sledding. 

I knew Ethan liked snow and sledding because from the time the very first flake fell this year, he's asked us to go sledding.  Every morning he wakes up and looks outside and comes running to say, "Mama, it's snowing.  It's snowing again, Mama," at which point I've usually had to break it to him that no, it isn't snowing - it snowed already and it's still out there.  We got a little bit of ground cover but not enough to sled even for someone as light weight as Ethan and each time he sees that remaining snow on the ground, he thinks it is actually snowing.  He even tried to argue the point with me one day saying, "Yes, it is, Mama - look, see, snow."  I had to tell him yet again that it was not snowing - it snowed already and that was still on the ground from last time and had to stand at the window with him to show him there were no flakes in the air.  That all changed yesterday.

I was getting ready for work and it was snowing.  Ethan came downstairs and did the usual, "Mama, where's Daddy?"  Me: "He's in bed sweetie." E: "Where you going, Mama."  Me: "I've got to go work.  But guess what."  E (sleepily & rubbing his eyes): "What?"  Me:  "It's SNOWING!"  E (not at all sleepily): "It's Snowing?" (runs to the window) "It's snowing a lot, Mama!"  Then he started doing the pee-pee dance and since he hadn't been yet, I knew he meant it so I broke his heart and made him leave the window and go pee.  Then he came out of the bathroom smiling and said, "Can we go sledding now, Mama?"  I told him we would when I got home from work and he'd need to be good for Daddy and then we could go sledding when I got home.  He promised he'd be good and was so excited he giggled behind his hand as he watched the snow.

Fast forward to lunch time - Steve & the boys came to see me for lunch cause we had errands to run and bills to pay and Steve had the day off.  One of the errands was Walmart and Steve checked-out while I took the boys back to the car.  I put Ethan in the car & shut his door and then turned back to the cart to see Alex sitting there smiling at the snow and waving his hands through the flakes that were falling on him.  Until that moment, I had no idea that he liked snow until that moment.  The look of sheer delight on his face as he waved through the snow flakes that were falling was so cute and funny at the same time.  I picked him up and he laughed and laughed as I put him in the seat and buckled him in and he kept just staring at his hand as he flipped it back and forth looking for the snowflakes that had already melted.  Then I went around to buckle Ethan who asked me if I wanted some snow.  I told him I had enough and he asked if I was sure cause he had some right there in his cup holder - then he looked and so "Oops, it melted."  Too funny.

Fast forward again to after work.  Even though I left on time (for once), everyone was going about 10 miles an hour to get home so it was dark when I got there.  Steve wasn't daunted by this - he was still determined that we should go to Shriner's Hospital where there's a nice hill to sled rather than in the front yard.  So while I proceeded to put my cuddle duds and jeans on, Steve put the snow pants & boots & gloves & coats on the boys.  He did Alex first and he truly looked like the boy from A Christmas Story - he kept taking a few steps and falling over - he could get back up but he had to roll over and waddle a little...too funny.  I have a picture I'll post later.  All of us bundled up, we loaded the boys in the car.  Steve packed out the sled my dad made for me (all wooden) when I was little, which we learned last January is still excellent for sledding and I can still fit on it, and Ethan's tobogan (which I can't spell so not sure if that's right) & the rubber tube and loaded the trunk.  We went first to blow up the tube at the gas station and seeing how dark it was, Steve said when getting back in the car, "maybe we should just sled at home,"...so back home we went (I personally think he should have just listened to me in the first place but oh well, it was snowing - who cares).

We went home and the boys were so excited.  Ethan got out and went right over to the yard and waited, impatiently, for his tobogan.  I got Alex out and we put a scarf on him.  I sat him down and he started walking straight out into the yard.  A few steps later he toppled over and started fussing.  Turns out when he bends over or looked down, the scarf covered his whole face and that ticked him off.  I took the scarf off and he went walking down the hill and made it halfway down before he fell.  I went to help him up and turned him over (he was face first in the snow) and he was smiling ear-to-ear and laughing - had no problem with a face full of snow.  Back up the hill, I went down first on my old sled with Alex on my lap and he laughed from top to bottom and couldn't wait to get off when we stopped so he could walk around more.  I rounded him up (Steve was taking pictures) as Steve headed up the hill to try to help Ethan with his tobogan.  With the wind Ethan couldn't quite get on it right (it's flimsy little thing and wasn't very cooperative for a 3 year old to deal with).  I headed up the hill with Alex and then handed him off to Steve as I helped Ethan get on the tobogan good.  Then down the hill he went and promptly turned sideways and stopped...I followed and turned him back around and gave him another push and he zipped down the little front yard and jumped right up to go again.  But at the top of the hill, he decided he'd rather push Daddy than sled again himself.  Steve tried to go down on the tube but the hill wasn't steep enough and the snow not deep enough for a tube yet so he gave up and played in the snow with Alex a little as I tried to get Ethan back on the sled.  He was not interested though - he just wanted me to get on my sled and let him push me.  Hey - I couldn't deny him his only wish so I had to go down the hill again...such a pain - oh well - I tried not to like it too much but wasn't very successful.  Ethan followed all the way down and I asked if he was ready to sled now and he wasn't so I asked if he wanted me to pull him up the hill.  He did want to do that but was trying to stand on the sled.  When I told him he'd have to sit down, he decided he didn't want to.  So instead he helped me pull it up the hill where Steve got on and rode it down the hill (possibly with Alex but I don't really remember).  At some point, we put Alex inside the tube to keep him corralled a bit. 

At this point, both boys were pretty cold but not interested yet in going in - it had been about 10-15 minutes outside by now (seemed longer but it wasn't really).  We wanted to get the boys to go down together so we put Ethan on the tube and then put Alex on his lap - they ended up basically laid out flat with Alex laying fully over Ethan.  I got beside them as they went down the hill to be able to see Ethan as well as Alex in the picture cause from the front, you only saw Alex.  Then I ran down and got a good picture as they stopped of both of them.  I'll post this, too, but Alex's expression is priceless - he absolutely loved it and laughed all the way down the hill.  As Steve pulled Alex off Ethan, I got a good one of Ethan, too, and though you can only see a small piece of his face due to his hat & coat, you can see the total glee on his face, too.  They had such a good time.  As we walked back up the hill, Steve went ahead to open the door so we could usher both boys in.  Ethan didn't quite realize that was the plan until we got right to the door.  He had no intention of going in but sadly, it wasn't his call.  Inside, we started peeling off layers and any piece of skin that was bare on any of us was bright red.  We quickly warmed up the boys and yes, with us all being sick either now or recently (cause Ethan is much improved as is Alex already and Steve but I'm still coughing my head off daily), we probably shouldn't have gone out but we don't get many chances and the boys had so much fun, I couldn't deny them of it. 

And the adventure seems not to have done too much damage.  Alex's face is slightly chapped but otherwise, neither one is any worse for the wear.  I am pretty sure I made myself worse but I can take it - the expressions and laughs from both boys made it all worth it.  We had planned to go out again today but when I got home, Steve & Alex were still napping so I laid down while Ethan watched Dinosaur Train on KET and the next thing I knew it was 4:30 and Steve had to leave for work a little later so we have decided to wait and try again tomorrow.  I realize, too, that it's going to be extremely cold tomorrow but Steve plans to get the boys face masks after work tonight to ensure they get full coverage and again, we'll make it a short outing.  They enjoy it far too much to deny them so I'm going - cough or no cough (and there will be a cough).  I can't wait!  I love snow!!!