This little lady has a mind of her own. I couldn't figure out why she was being so fussy for the 4-5 weeks leading up to Christmas. After an exhausting few days over Christmas, it was time to let her "cry it out". Well, wouldn't you know as soon as I lay her down, she talked herself right to sleep? It turns out, I was only irritating her by walking her around to get her to fall asleep. She wants to do it herself. Go figure...Life is much better now--for everyone.
Now that I am not fighting Ally to go to sleep for 50% of my day, I have much more time to answer those burning questions spewing from my two inquisitive 2 year olds. Most of the questions are repeated at least (and I do NOT exaggerate) 30 times a day. No kidding.
"Where Baby Ally go?"
"Where Grandma go?"
"Where Grandpa go?"
"Where Debbie go?"
"Where Bucky go?"
"Where Dada go?"
"Does Mama know where Dada is?"
I typically answer this with, "You know where Dada is. Where is he?" And then sadly, they answer back, "Dada at work."
Some of Cole's best lines have come while noshing on string cheese. The most interesting this week came out of nowhere:
"I gonna punch Dada." (with fists ready)
"OK, Cole. You can punch Dada when he gets home. But you can't punch anyone else."
Surprisingly this has worked, so far. You can tell what Dad does as soon as he gets home from work. Keith and Cole are so excited to wrestle, fight and play hide and seek.
I mentioned to Brent that it's a good thing the boys are with me all day or they would never learn any manners. Brent explained that his job was to teach Keith and Cole how to "be men".
Awesome. So apparently, I should remain at ease when my son wants to punch the lights out of his dad since he is simply following through on his man-homework. I'm so proud. (Brent insists that Keith and Cole can tell the difference between "play-fighting" and the real thing. I disagree. How am I going to explain to some unsuspecting mom at the park, why my son socked her son in the gut? I can't possibly deny that my son ever learned that at home. That's
exactly where he learned it!) Sigh...
Keith is one tough kid. He gets bumped around and shows little emotion. Most of the time, he's pretty happy working on puzzles, sticker-books, coloring or "reading" stories. Unless he feels very passionate about doing something, he is mellow to the core.
Cole, on the other hand, eats up the sympathy. (Where
did he get that drama?) While I was cutting his hair this week, he asked and answered his own question in a sympathetic voice, "Does that hurt? Yeahhh." He asks and answers similar questions when he falls. "Did Cole fall down? Yeahhh." "Did Cole bonk his head?" Yeahhhh." "Did Cole hurt finger? Yeahhh." You get the point.
Cole now jumps from crib to crib at will. It takes at least an hour and a half for them to go to bed at night. I'll hear a loud thud and then I can hear Keith cracking up. They'll wrestle around for awhile and then Cole will flop back into his bed. (This is repeated several times a night and each afternoon.) They were laughing so hard tonight that Brent went in to see what they were up to and they were each standing up in their own beds and had each other locked in a headlock, laughing hysterically.
Cole begs to go to bed and then can't wait to boot me or Brent out the door. "Mama shut door?" "Mama shut door?" And if we laugh at him, he says, "Cole funny." "Cole funny."
Keep in mind that each spoken phrase is repeated 2-7 times, depending on how long it takes me to repeat it back. Perhaps you have a glimpse into the fascinating dialogue that is my world.
Keith and Cole prior to me butchering their hair. I do not use the word "butcher" lightly. They were too distraught afterward for a post pic.
