According to Gehrig

While he cried about a scrape on his finger-
Me: "Drink your juice and maybe it will feel better."
Gehrig: "But the juice will go into my belly, not into my finger."

Gehrig: "Want to hear a song about applesauce?"
Me: "Yeah, let's hear it!"
.....long pause while he was clearly thinking very hard.....
Gehrig:"Just a minute. It's loading."

After coffee and donuts at church a few weeks ago-
"Christ said we could get donuts today!"
{I figured he considered this an answered prayer...}

During church last week, he pointed to the priest and whispered-
"Look, Mom. Theeerrre's Jesus Christ!"
{...so that cleared up any misconceptions about God talking to him about pastries.}

More here.

Dear Milo: Month 10

Dear Mi-Guy,

I could start this letter with every single cliché about the passage of time {it's flying by. where does it go? you're growing up too fast. wish i could make it stand still....etc. etc.), but really, Baby Boy, you are seeming so big lately. You even took your first step this past week! You want to walk so badly and always prefer to be standing {holding on to something...usually my leg...or just standing in the middle of a room}. I think you'll be running behind your brother in no time.

You think your brother is hilarious. He thinks you're pretty funny, too, except when you try to eat his toys. You are extremely tolerant of his impatience, smiling when he pushes you or laughing when he throws a tantrum. But you also like to wrestle with him and pull his hair, so I guess you can hold your own in those rougher moments. 

We had some months of very little sleep, but you are gradually getting better at taking naps and giving me a little break at night {waking up to nurse one time as opposed to three}. Those four teeth that all came in at once really wreaked havoc on our house. So glad you're feeling better and back to your happy, cuddly self.

You love giving kisses, which usually involves grabbing our faces and locking us in to a big, open-mouth slobberfest. You love attention more than anything. If we're not making eye contact with you, you crane your neck  and get right in our faces so we'll look at you. You think you're pretty cool when you imitate Gehrig and make us all laugh. The dinner table is becoming much louder with the shrieking and hissing noises you make.

You started doing some signs recently, which always fascinates me and makes me so happy to be able to actually communicate with you. You sign 'more' and 'all done' and 'danger' and every time you do I kind of think you're a genius. I love watching you learn new things.

I am enthralled with the little huge personality you are developing. You're a bit of a daredevil...trying to climb stairs and get into everything you possibly can. One of your favorite things to do is bolt toward anything we try to keep you away from {a computer cord, the vacuum, a closed door when big brother is napping...}. You think it's so fun to be chased and the glimmer you get in your eye makes me think I've got some challenging moments in my future.

Thanks for making our days so fun and our nights so long, Buster. We all love you so much and think you're {as G says} "so tute."

Love, Mama 

According to Gehrig

While being scolded for some particularly horrendous behavior at the dinner table-

"But, Mom, don't worry. Tomorrow I won't throw my placement. Otay?"

Out of nowhere-

Gehrig: "Mom, you should just go to PBS-dot-ord and do your essercizes."

Me: "Uh....ok?"

While playing with a toy baseball bat he got for Christmas 2012, but just found in a closet-

"Chet out my new, new, new, very new bat."

Every time I change him out of pajamas-

"But WHERE are we goin'??"

Every time I clean the house-

"Mom, who's comin' over?"

More of these gems here.

Weekend Ups & Downs

↑ Thursday night Jason found out he had {another!} snow day on Friday!

↓ Two minutes after announcing how excited I was for the inevitable extra sleep I'd be getting that night, I heard the fateful gagging and whimpering of a sick kid.

↑ Gehrig only threw up once and, although it was a long night with kids lying sideways in our bed, at least it didn't turn into the plague of last winter {KNOCK ON WOOD KNOCK ON WOOD KNOCK ON WOOD}.

↓ Milo has yet to shock me with a full night of sleep and I realize it could be a whole lot worse, but I also feel like nine-months-old could be a great age for him to start sleeping all night long. Mama's tired.

↑ We decided on a whim to drive to Jason's parents' Friday night so they could watch the boys while we went on a date. Spontaneity for the win.

↓ It was fa-reezing that night and I wore heels anyway cuz date night doesn't come around much and as we were getting kids out of the car my prettied-up feet went knee-deep in a snowbank. Cold and maybe ruined shoes...

↑ Date night!! Potato skins, salad, wine, cheesecake, and uninterrupted conversation with my love. All so good.

↓ I will not complain about the weather. I will not complain about the weather. I will not...it's cold and my kid is sick of being inside. But we're dealing.

↑ We made it to church Sunday. Late wake-ups and cranky kids and sub-zero temperatures nearly deterred us, but we made it. It's important to counts these wins, I think.

All things considered, the ups win out this time. It was a good one. Hope yours was good, too! 

I'll leave you with the latest Milo video that makes me laugh every time. He does NOT like oatmeal.

Regressions

There are few things I find more frustrating than my kids' regression to behavior that we work so hard to get past. Namely, thinking we have this potty thing down and then...two whole weeks of accident after accident after...maybe we should go back to diapers? I know. I know. "It's all normal. Especially with boys. Blahblahblah." Honestly, potty training has maybe-definitely been my least favorite parenting venture thus far {yep, it even takes the cake over waking up 3x nightly and those irrational tantrums}, so I'm feeling a bit discouraged these days.

But there's this other regression taking place that I can't be too upset by. Gehrig, my self-weaned, can't-hold-me-down, independent, almost-3-year-old has decided he loves cuddling again. It all started with a post-drive nap that he shockingly continued on me:

Keep in mind, this boy has not slept in my arms in over a year. I kind of thought it might never happen again. So I went ahead and savored it as long as possible. Little did I know this would kick-start a new phase in which he lets me rock him to sleep, wants to cuddle with me as soon as he wakes up from naps, and randomly stops playing with his cars to lay his head on my lap and whisper "Can you hold me, mom?" It's like, holy cute, kid!

Of course, this mommy phase has also brought with it some jealousy with baby brother needing extra love thanks to the upwards of 5 new teeth he's procuring, but I'm trying to accommodate his cuddle requests as much as possible because, like every phase, it could leave as quickly as it came. 

Good Things Thursday

Today the longest Christmas Break sadly came to an end. Jason's back to work after 2 weeks, plus a bonus 3 days off thanks to Snowpocolypse '14. It was kind of the greatest to hang out with him so much and I really can't complain about the extra sleep I get on mornings he's here. So, in my currently refreshed and rested state, I feel like it's a good time to round up some really good things that went on over break.

1. Time with these guys, obviously. I even got a couple dates with my husband. One happened to be at Urgent Care on Christmas Eve for a certain lady's ear infection, but it counts, right? {Not sure if that makes us seem romantic, making even the not-fun things into dates, or pathetic, counting sitting in the waiting room as "us time." Don't tell me which.}

2. Seeing extended family. Gehrig loves his cousins, aunts, uncles, and grandparents so much. I never see him more excited than when they come over or we go visit them. This makes me the happiest.

3. Lots and lots of crafts.

4. SNOW. Ok, it wasn't the greatest to be stuck on the opposite side of the state as Jason, or shovel 2 feet of snow, but all the ice and snow we've gotten lately sure is pretty. And it gave us 4 snow days, so...yes, please.

5. Christmas seemed extra great this year. It could have been because Gehrig really got into things like lighting {and blowing out} the Advent candles every night, reading the Christmas story and understanding who baby Jesus is, and opening each gift with the same amount of enthusiasm and appreciation {"Whoa! Chet dis out!"}. Whatever the reason, it was an excellent Christmas 'round these parts.

And so ceases the overload of pictures. Happy New Year, too!

According to Gehrig

It's becoming evident to me that 3-year-olds {or going-on-3-year-olds} are some of the funniest human beings on the planet. Gehrig is constantly saying unexpected things that crack me up and, even though his stubbornly independent personality challenges me a lot, his ability to think for himself produces some real gems that I just had to share.

When Jason checked on him after bedtime, Gehrig reported what he was "dreaming" about-
"I dreamin' about baseball. And football. And Chuggington. I dream about a lot!"

Over the monitor from his room at 3am-
Gehrig: "MOOOMM, I need heeelp."
I stumble in, annoyed: "Help with what, Buddy?"
Gehrig: "Falling asleep."
{I melt}

While trying to speak in code to Jason-
Me: "It was on....Fix-it Manuel."
Gehrig: "No, mom, it's just Handy Manny!"

While Jason was putting him to bed the other night-
Gehrig: "Dad, can you keep me safe?"
Jason: "Safe from what, Buddy?"
Gehrig: "Mom."
Jason: "Haha. Are you being silly?"
Gehrig: "No. I not being silly. She really really scary."
{nice.}

Anytime we ask him to try new food-
"No thanks. I'm too little. I'm just a little boy."

And my favorite as of late-
"Apple juice goes all the way down to my belly and grows up into pee!"

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