Electronic Post

Dear Zeke,
    Someday you will be older.  You will have a place of your own and things of your own.  You will enjoy order and organization in your surroundings; I know you and I know that's part of who you are.
    On that day, or one day soon after, I will come to visit.  I will wear muddy shoes when I come, and the first thing I will do is jump on your couch while wearing my muddy shoes.  When you protest, I will apologize, smile, remove my shoes, and continue jumping.
    I will drag chairs around your house and put them in places they do not go so I can reach all the tall shelves.  I will take all your things down from the tall shelves, from inside your closet, and from the drawers in your bedroom, and I will scatter your clothes, your toys, and your belongings, all around the first room of your house.  I may do this while you are in the bathroom, or perhaps when you decide to take a phone call.  That way, when you walk into your house, or attempt to leave your house, you will hopefully step on something you do not want stepped on.  If I am very lucky, it will break.
    Before I go, I will ask for a cup of milk.  I will insist that it be a very tall cup of milk and I will scream and whine until you pour the right amount for me.  Then I will take one sip and I will ask to put it in your fridge for later.  I will carefully slosh the milk as I walk to the fridge so that it spills a sticky white trail on your floor, then I will place it gently on the top shelf of your fridge and knock it over.
     I will give you a big hug and kiss, tell you I love you, and leave.  
    Your loving, Mom

Worth it?

I do not like being pregnant.  

I keep telling myself that everything will be different come April 12, but that seems so very far away.  I'm already to that point where sleeping is uncomfortable.  The bed works until 2am, then the chair works until 5am and then to the couch until I hear the boys stir or I can't take it any longer.  

But I do love my boys.  (They are sleeping right now.)  They are cute and fun, and I love when I can make them laugh together.  We are still young and foolish so I can make them laugh by making faces and strange sounds or by pretending to be a dinosaur and crawling around grunting and pretending to eat shoes.  

So the next time I am angry that my body is not currently my own I will imagine Zeke, Ben and Mac'N'Cheese, brushing teeth together and laughing hysterically whenever Mom says "Spit!" and makes a spitting noise to demonstrate.  

Helping Out Little Brother

Tonight is the first night of Zeke and Ben in the same room at bedtime. It was a rough bedtime, and Ben was very sad that he wasn't in his normal crib in the back bedroom.

That's why we were pleased when, after a few minutes, we heard them being very happy together and laughing in their room.

"Great," we thought, "Zeke is showing Ben all the games and play ideas he normally goes through after lights out, and he sure loves an audience."

After about 45 minutes, we thought we would see why they were still being so loud and to help them calm down a little to fall asleep.

That's when we saw this:

Where do I sleep?

In the words of Zeke, "Ben was sad so I gave him some toys."

Just to clarify, Zeke didn't give Ben some toys. Zeke gave Ben all of the toys in the set of 9 toy tubs in his organizer, the tubs themselves, all of the books in the bookshelf, a few larger toys from the closet, a collection of Ben, Zeke and Dad shoes from down the hall, some pillows, and a ruler.

Ben was visibly tired and looking a little concerned that he couldn't lie down in his crib. Zeke was very pleased with himself and certain that he had done an excellent job getting Ben happy.

We clearly need to work out better rules for bedtime.  And maybe next time we should wait to die of laughter until after we clean up and put them back to bed.

Here are some more picture of the aftermath.

The empty shelves to the left

Caroling

It's Christmas time!
We put up the tree (and then had a lighting issue and took everything down and put it all back up again).  The boys are interested in the tree, but they also believe in experimentation.  Zeke managed to break an ornament that was made of baked play dough by licking it to pieces, and Ben is determined to electrocute himself with the lights.

I made two batches of fudge last week (one terrible, one quite good) and they've been waiting in the freezer for a good purpose.  So, tonight we attempted a little Christmas caroling at a neighbor's house.  Mike suggested that we do something that would include the boys, so the jingle bells came out.  Of course, I insisted on a little costuming, which Zeke loved.  (He's pretty handy with scissors and a glue stick.)

Zeke pouted through the song, but at least Ben shook his bells energetically.  It was a bit of a let down to our neighbor, who really enjoyed the brass last year.  We might just save the rest of the fudge for our own bellies.