Go Ahead!

When we're in the shower, one of Owen's favorite things is to watch the soap bubbles go down the drain. He used to ponder, "Where go?" Now he at least understands that they disappear into the holes. This morning, though, there were a few clumps of bubbles stuck to the wall of the shower and, in his encouraging little squeak, he said, "Go ahead, bubbles! Go ahead, bubbles!"

'niffin!

Last weekend, my guys were having some good 'ol "guy time" out in the front yard. I'm sure Caleb was riding his bike (like a kid strapped to a rocket) around the cul-de-sac. Zach was probably tinkering in and around the front yard. Owen usually spends his "out front" time divided between pushing his scooter around the driveway and getting into stuff in the garage that he shouldn't.

I, unfortunately, didn't get to witness the following exchange, but Zach's face told it all when he relayed it to me. He went into the garage and found Owen standing in there, not really doing much, but definitely sniffing air in and out of his nose.

Z: Hey, Buddy! What are you doing?
O: I don' know!!! [Exclaimed with SO much enthusiasm and excitement for his new ability.]
Z: Are you sniffing?
O: 'Niffin?!? [Again, super excited and followed by some very exaggerated sniffs.]

Ever since, if you ask O if he can sniff, he hollars [in an unusually high-pitched tone], "'Niffin?" And he's always super-eager to show you his skill. After a few days, it turned into "'Niffin garage?" Which is really not the most pleasant thing to sniff, but I guess that's where his discovery was made, so they'll forever be linked.

Oh, my goodness, Owen. You make me hurt inside.

Caleb Cowboy

Unfortunately, costumes for harvest celebrations have gotten decidedly less exciting than when I was little. Actually, it's not the costumes that are less exciting, it's just the celebrations themselves. They were a huge deal when I was little. In correlation, the costumes were also a huge deal.

For Caleb's Harvest Festival at school, he's allowed three costume choices: a scarecrow, a cowboy or a farmer. Woo hoo! [Please pardon my sarcasm. It's rude.]

I thought maybe he'd get excited about a scarecrow, because there's nothing really exciting about dressing up like a farmer [except for the pair of overalls that I'd be forced to buy him] and he was a cowboy last year. But, when I presented his options, he chose...cowboy. Oh well. It could be harder for me, for sure. But maybe this year we'll try to add a lasso and big, shiny belt buckle to the mix. [If he'll let me.] I'm sure he'll be game for the lasso, but the buckle? I don't know.

So, I'll post pictures as soon as I've got 'em.

In the mean time, I figure this is a good time to write down a song that I made up for Caleb and have sung to him ever since he was itty bitty:

Caleb Cowboy, ridin' on his pony
Through the valley and 'oer the hills
Roundin' up all his little do-gies
Drivin' 'em home, yippie-i-o, yippie-i-o, yodel-i-a
Yodel-i-a, yodel-i, yodel-i, yodel-i-a
Yodel-i-a, yodel-i, yodel-i, yodel-i-a
Yodel-i-a.

[What can I say? I'd secretly love to be able to yodel, a la Jewel. I think it'd be cool.]

Smarty Pants

This morning, on our way out the door to drop Caleb off at school, Owen grabbed several toy cars to take along. In the car, I wasn't paying particular attention, but could hear the two of them having a very involved conversation. Caleb was asking Owen if he could hold up the car that had the engine sticking through the hood. Obediently, Owen held it out and Caleb asked, "Do you want to know the name of that car?" Owen nodded, so Caleb knowledgeably informed him: "That car is called an engine-eer."

New Mercies

Yesterday was hard. Darn hard. But, as is usually the case, today started with an extra special ray of sunshine to make up for the gloominess of yesterday. Owen and I were playing in his room for a minute after dropping Caleb off at school...and he gave me a hug!!! Don't get me wrong. I've coerced LOTS of hugs out of that little one and his big brother, too. But, this is the first time ever that he actually just reached out, grabbed onto my neck and snuggled for a minute. Yay! There was no ouchy, no garbage truck [yes, my big bulldozer baby has an incredible fear of trash trucks], no fright that sent him into my arms. He did it on his own!

Overall, the entire day was far better than the day before. There were still plenty of spankings and mini-tantrums, but NOTHING like Monday. Zach had to stay home from work because he was sick. That usually means that I take the day off, too. We cuddled and took naps. After the boys woke up from their naps, we baked chocolate chip cookies and watched Monsters vs Aliens together. It was great fun!

While eating their cookies, Caleb requested a cup of milk for dipping, but there was no way I was going there while letting them have their cookies in the living room. I got them both some milk to drink from their sippy cups. However, I made the grave mistake of getting small cups of milk for both Zach and I, so that we could have some milk with our cookies, too. I sat down on the floor and was instantly bombarded on both sides by little boys with cookies in hand. They both shoved their cookies in my milk! They got a few bites in this way, but it was threatening to be a HUGE mess - little drops of milk all over. I said no more dunking, so Owen promptly dropped his entire cookie down into my cup. Little stinker. He had already eaten a good deal of his cookie, so when I got him a new one he ended up exceeding the one-cookie-limit that I had set for them. And what's worse? I wouldn't be surprised if he did it on purpose. He's shown cookie-monster-tendencies before. A few weeks ago we had dinner and fun with lots of friends from church at the Livingston's house. After dinner they broke out some ice cream and cookies for dessert. I made a cup of ice cream for each of the boys and sent them outside to devour their treats. I was inside, so I didn't witness this first hand, but... Apparently O was feigning some difficulty in getting his ice cream on his spoon. Kelly ran right over to help him scoop. While her attention was focused on feeding him his ice cream, however, she innocently let her own cookie get within his reach. He snatched it right out of her hand! Again, stinker! I can't necessarily say that I blame him, but still...

Terribly Two

I think we're there. At least it feels like it. Owen didn't get enough sleep this weekend and now we're paying for it - BIG TIME. So, I'm hoping that's all this is. If, however, this really is "two" rearing its ugly head, I might have to lock him in a closet until he gets to 3, or 4. [Just kidding, mostly.]

Auntie Fae gave me some good advice on how to deal with the fray: "You may have to prepare for the fact that his little bootie might just be awfully red for the next several weeks." So true.

It's SO darn hard to remember in the heat of things [like tonight, after the second time he threw his milk on the floor and it spilled all over] that this, too, shall pass. That is the absolute best piece of parenting advice I've heard thus far, and, I'm convinced, the key to surviving this role of being a Mommy.

His little tush might be in a constant state of red, he may spend more time in his crib screaming his way through tantrums than either of us are prepared for, and he may need a spanking every time I turn around. But it will pass. It did with Caleb, and it will with Owen, too. In the mean time, I just have to take a deep breath and think of the good - like when he accomplishes something new and throws his hands up in the air with a resounding "I did it!", when he stops to rest his head on my shoulder, when I get to watch his cheeks [all 4 of them] jiggle as he runs across a playground or when he says "I wuv wu."

Ahh. Life is good. Hard sometimes, but definitely good.

So True

On our way to church this morning, Caleb was pretty quiet. We passed the usual buildings and fields that we see every week. After passing one of several churches along the way, however, Caleb sighed and said, "Mom, isn't God's church beautiful?" Out of the mouth of babes...

I know, at the time, Caleb was just talking about the nice building we had passed. But, the reminder of God's love for His people [the church] was so very sweet. And, speaking of God's love, there's a song that Zach did for the first time at church this morning that really speaks of His love for us. It's an amazing song and Zach was able to present it so beautifully. I was SO proud of both my boys!

Here are the words of the song:

He is jealous for me,
Loves like a hurricane, I am a tree,
Bending beneath the weight of His wind and mercy.
When all of a sudden,
I am unaware of these afflictions eclipsed by glory,
And I realise just how beautiful You are,
And how great Your affections are for me.

And oh, how He loves us so,
Oh! How He loves us,
How He loves us all.

Yeah, He loves us,
Oh! How He loves us,
Oh! How He loves us,
Oh! How He loves.

We are His portion and He is our prize,
Drawn to redemption by the grace in His eyes,
If grace is an ocean, we’re all sinking.
And Heaven meets earth like an unforseen kiss,
And my heart turns violently inside of my chest,
I don’t have time to maintain these regrets,
When I think about, the way He loves us...

Solo...Almost

This morning I tried to take a shower without Owen. Actually, let me rephrase that. It's not that I haven't showered without him for the last two years. It's just that for the last several months it has become our routine for him to take a shower with me in the mornings while Caleb does his morning routine. The number one reason for this is convenience, for me. It gets him clean, too, and I'm all about successful multi-tasking. [Basically killing two birds with one stone, but just a kinder, gentler way of saying that very same thing.]

My biggest motivator in all of this, though, is just so that I can get a shower for myself. I don't trust Owen to run through the house while I'm in the shower. No telling what he'd get into, especially since he's recently figured out how to twist the tops off of things...my lip gloss, mascara. You name it and he's tried it. [I've definitely learned that, with Owen, if I haven't heard anything out of him for more than about 3 minutes that means trouble.] So, I figure that I could take a panicked 3 minute shower without him or a leisurely 15 minute [okay, 20 minute] shower with him.

This morning, though, he definitely didn't express any interest in taking a shower, so I got him dressed and interested in some toys in his room and I hopped in for a quick scrub. I wasn't in there for more than 2 minutes before he came in, sobbing, and crying "Wid you, shower, wid you..." I tried to console him and tell him that I'd be out in just a minute. That, apparently, was not good enough for him. Fully clothed, he climbed into the shower. His solution caused quite a smile to spread across his face, until his clothes started feeling wet and heavy. He wasn't so sure about this new experience, it definitely wasn't like his usual showers with mommy. So, I had to strip him down and then we finished. I guess I won't be doing any solos for a little while longer. [And that's just fine by me.]