Mean Mommy Trick #347

Typical Shopping Trip:

Me - Kids, we need to Costco.
Kids - AWWWWW, I hate going to Costco! Can't you go when daddy gets home? Whine. Complain. Are we there yet? When are we going to be done? How much more do you have to get? Why does this take so long? He's looking at me! She keeps walking where I want to walk. My legs are tired. When are we going to be home?

Today's Shopping Trip:

Me - Kids, we are almost out of toilet paper. 

Kids - *disinterest*

Me - But it's ok, because we have lots of trees in the backyard - we can just use leaves. 

Kids - WHAT?! *shocked faces*

Me - The only thing is that we'll have to go out and get them each time before we use the bathroom.

JJ - Even if it's an emergency??!

Me - Yes, because if the leaves dry out, they'll just crumble.

KK - *tears* 

Me - Or.... *dramatic pause*

Kids - What?! What?!

Me - There's only one other thing we could do... We could go to Costco.

Kids - *jumping up and down* YES! Let's go to Costco!! PLEASE! Can we go to Costco instead?!

Me - yeah, I guess that's probably better ;)

#winwin

Conversations with JJ: his turn?

Yesterday, as we were getting ready for JJ's first t-ball practice, we had this conversation, which just proves how little I know about parenting this child...

JJ: Mommy, I don't know if I'll like t-ball. Last year, all the other boys kept running to get the ball before me.

Mommy: Oh sweetie, you got the ball sometimes. I remember! But you know what? This year, you will be one of the bigger boys. You are five now, but there will be lots of little boys who are four.

JJ: There will?

Mommy: Yes, and you remember how it felt to be one of the little ones, right?

JJ: Yes

Mommy: (trying for some empathy) So this time, do you think you should be like those big boys, trying to get the ball and not letting the littler kids get it?

JJ: (face lights up and relief washes over him) OH! Yes, I guess I should! (as if to say, now it's MY turn)

See? No clue. God help me :)

Conversations with JJ: In the Kitchen

I can't believe I missed out on recording two years worth of conversations with JJ. He comes up with the craziest questions and is never satisfied with a simple answer. He blows me away with how smart he is (always smarter than I think) and is only limited by his ability to communicate his ideas.

And he's funny. Ever since he was a baby, he's loved to make people laugh. One of my rewards for being his mommy is that he makes me laugh all the time. Well, not all the time. There are plenty of times when I'm very much not laughing, but let's not talk about that right now.

I love when he combines his brilliance with his funny.

JJ is also my little kitchen helper. Even as a baby he loved to sit in the kitchen and just watch me do my stuff. I found, and continue to find, that things go a lot better for everyone if I can find a way to include him in my work. (KK loves to cook with me too, but she also loves her alone time and this is one way I can get her some time to herself). Now that JJ is five, he is actually helpful. I love guiding his little hands and chatting with him as we cook.

So yesterday, we were baking bread. I decided to mess with him a little when we were measuring herbs, thyme specifically.

Me: This herb is called time. You know, like on the clock. This is what 'time' actually looks like.

JJ was fooled for a moment, confused for another moment, but then quickly realized I was joking.

We started measuring out parsley and he got a little smirk on his face.

JJ: What's this one called, mommy? Gravity?

Brilliance + funny. That's my JJ.

Conversations with JJ: Theological discussion I never thought I'd have

I know I totally need to write an update, but I've been sick since the beginning of November (yep 3 months!) so the whole idea kinda sorta really super duper overwhelms me right now. We moved to Baltimore. I'll tell you more later.

But for now...

A theological discussion I never thought I'd have:

Oh, but first, a little background....

JJ really likes bathroom, uh, stuff. And talking about it. His answer to most questions is "poop". A recent discussion with daddy for example:

JJ: Daddy, why people not like pee or poop?

Daddy: Well, they're kind of gross, buddy! People don't really like to talk about them.

JJ: Oh. But I really like them. I like talk about them.

So, consider yourself warned.....

JJ: Mommy, does Jesus poop?

Mommy: Um, well yes, he did when he was a man.

JJ: But he not now because he's a girl?

Mommy: Well no. He doesn't now because he's a spirit. He doesn't have a body anymore.

JJ (*confused look* which yeah, I totally get): Oh. Where was his potty?...

...and continue potty questions ad infinitum.

Peanut-lover may face some pretty intense theological questions in his role as a scientist, but nothing like what I face right here at home ;)

Birthday requests from JJ

JJ has followed in his sister's footsteps in asking for, well, unusual gifts. Remember what she wanted for her birthday last year? And for Christmas the year before?

Well, there's been a lot of birthday talk around here lately because someone is turning five tomorrow. JJ thought he'd submit his requests early.

He wants Spiderman, Spiderman and Mickey Mouse stickers, a rock, part of a dead flower...

(are you writing this down?)

... and a cloud.

Duly noted.

(Many) Conversations with JJ

JJ has become quite the talker. And he's a smart little guy. He constantly finds questions that stump me, like "What does 'why' mean?" and "What does 'either' mean?" and "Why we don't need fireman when bouncy ball gets stuck?" and "Where was God before he made the world?"

If you've spent any time with a two-year-old, you know that any answer given is just followed up by another question, until we finally insert a big word and he gets distracted. For example,

Daddy: You need to eat your breakfast.

JJ: Why me need to eat?

Daddy: So you can grow up to be a big boy.

JJ: ME ALREADY IS BIG BOY! How me grow?

Daddy: Well, your cells divide and make more cells. That's called 'mitosis'.

JJ: Hey! Me eat 'my toastis' for breakfast.

Daddy: Exactly.

This little monkey is all about being a big boy. He constantly reminds me, "Me BIG boy". He won't ever let me slip and say anything about him being little.

Sunday night we spontaneously decided to go out for dinner and the waitress asked, "Do you want a highchair for your baby?" As JJ climbed into the chair we chose for him, he said, "That was RUDE! Me not baby, me BIG boy!" I was surprised that she understood him, since I've been kind of counting on the fact that not everyone can understand him, as this kid is either loud or asleep, but no, she heard him clearly and apologized appropriately ;)

JJ is such a charmer too. Whereas KK will just not do something that she's not allowed to do, he'll do it, right in front of me, while smiling charmingly at me. Sometimes it works. Hey, I never claimed to be perfect! Could you resist this face?

A while back, I wrote a post about how I was teaching KK about safety. You can find it here. Well, I've been working on the same stuff with JJ, and last week, I thought I'd check in with him to see how much he was remembering.

Mommy: JJ, what would you do if someone asked you to come to their car to see their kitty? Would you go with them?

JJ: NO!

Mommy: Good. Now what if someone picked you up and tried to take you away? What would you do?

JJ: Me would run away home and get a knife and come back and say, "You don't do that!"

(are we seeing the difference between my delicate little girl and my tough little guy here?)

Mommy: Ok, we can work on that. What if a really nice lady said she had puppies in her car and she wanted to show them to you and that your mommy said it was ok? What would you do?

JJ: I not go, but me say, "If you have candy, me come..."

Obviously, I need to keep a close eye on this one. And possibly feed him more candy.

Another example of how parenting teaches me about God

Parenting teaches me so much about God as father. I was reminded about how God deals with his children once again this week while putting away laundry.

I called JJ to come hang up his shirts and told him that if he came right away, I would help him do it. (Hanging shirts is a new skill that JJ and I are working really hard on. Having a four-year-old that hangs up all her clothes helps keep me motivated that eventually we will be successful!)

JJ decided not to come right away, preferring to play with his lego instead.

When I told him that he'd have to hang up his shirts by himself, he came into his room and started crying that it was too hard. He sat there for a few minutes, trying to figure it out, but very frustrated, tears streaming down his cheeks. Suffering... from a two-year-old's perspective.

I told him that I just wanted him to try and though I kept feeling the urge to bail him out and help him through it, I had a hope that he'd get it himself, so I let him suffer through the frustration...

...until suddenly... he'd done it!

He ran out to daddy to show him what he'd done and then did the other shirt himself.
-----------------------------------
It's no secret that my family has been going through our share of suffering, relating to my mom's health, over the past nearly three months.

In short synopsis, mom had an urgent achilles tendon repair done, which reopened 5 weeks later. To repair that, she had to have a free-flap transfer to cover the open wound. In her case, the free-flap transfer meant they took a chunk of tissue from her upper arm and reattached it to her ankle. That was followed by a readmission for severe dehydration and pain, and just recently, another readmission for a severe lung infection. All this in the context of the fact that she has advanced leukemia.

Her ability to fight infection is very compromised, so just when she starts to feel a little better and like she might be able to start re-learning how to walk on her leg, she gets another infection. It is very defeating.

It's been a long three months, with lots of crisis moments, prioritizing, reprioritizing, crying together, talking about the future, considering our fears... you name it. Suffering... from this family's perspective.

Now, suffering doesn't necessarily come from God. In JJ's case, his suffering was related to his choice to continue playing instead of coming when I asked him to come. Suffering isn't necessarily always related to our choices though. There is a lot of suffering that we just aren't going to be able to understand on this side of eternity. Mom's suffering is one of those cases.

Lots of us question why God allows suffering. I can't explain it all. But I do know that God uses every hardship in our lives to shape us and teach us. And, just like I knew better than to bail JJ out of his momentary suffering, God knows better than to bail us out of ours.

The thing is, God is a perfect parent. Sometimes, I get irritated waiting for my kids to attain a skill, or I fail and bail them out of doing something hard, but God doesn't parent like that.

I love one of the conversations in the book, "The Shack". The main character is talking about failure, and asking if God gets frustrated with us when we fail. And God responds that, since he is omniscient, he knows that it's going to take us 48 times before we get it right. So after the first failure, He's so excited because He knows it's only 47 more times before we succeed!

God doesn't let any suffering or hardship go to waste. (Although, some of it is definitely going to MY waist, if you know what I mean!) He lets us work through the suffering, though he remains with us and coaches us through it, so that we will come out the end of it having learned something...

... like how to balance life's demands when mom is sick...

... and like how to hang our shirts up on a hanger.

Conversations with JJ: talk, talk, talk!

JJ's become quite the talker suddenly. He cracks me up all the time. He's taken to calling everyone "baby", but since he oozes cool, he pronounces it "baybay".

Mommy: JJ, why did you just hit KK?

JJ: 'Cause me want to, baby!

If you're thinking it must be hard to correct him when he's so darn cute, you'd be right. Fortunately, I'm quite aware that parenting is not supposed to be easy!

The other night, he snuck out of bed and saw me working on Daddy's computer.

JJ: *big charming smile* Why you work Daddy's 'puter mommy?

Mommy: I'm just helping daddy with some work.

JJ: Why you not daddy yet, mommy?

Mommy: Not a daddy yet? JJ, a daddy is not the next level after a mommy...

JJ: Mommy, s'ok. You be big like daddy sometime.

Another night, I was lying in bed and JJ kept asking me the same question over and over:

JJ: Mommy why you wearing pants?

Mommy: I always wear pants.

After the fourth or fifth time, I decided to ask him silly questions to see if I could get him to change the subject.

Mommy: JJ, why are you wearing JJ?

JJ: *big sigh* I no know, mommy. People like look at me, I guess.

Comfort items

Both my kids have their comfort items. That special thing they need to calm them when they are sleepy or upset.

JJ's is his blankie. It's a knitted blanket that my Grandma actually made for KK, and somehow JJ got really attached to. Now we don't go anywhere without it. He can be instantly calmed just on the sight of his blankie. You can see the change in him the moment he recognizes it. It's almost like the blankie is a person the way he interacts with it (him? her?).

When I realized he was attached to this blankie, I asked my Grandma to make up a smaller version of it for us to carry around with us. It gets a little challenging to bring a crib-sized blankie everywhere we go. But he instantly rejected the "mini-blankie" so his large blankie gets dragged everywhere.

Washing his blankie is 45 minutes of intense stress for the little guy and requires mommy to be extra creative with play until we hear the magic sound of the dryer buzzer.

KK's comfort item, however, is always with me. I can't forget it anywhere. It gets cleaned once-a-day whether I plan it or not. She can find it in her sleep, although she must come to our room to get it.

What is this comfort item?

My belly button, or "button tummy", of course. For nearly three years now, she has comforted herself by rubbing and poking my belly button. Before she can go to sleep at night, she must let each finger spend some time with my belly button. If she gets injured or has her feelings hurt, my belly button can fix the pain.

It's magic like that, sigh...

Of boys and men

One of the things that I love about having a son, is that he helps me understand my husband.

One of the things that I love about having a husband, is that he helps me understand my son.

JJ is two. He is learning that he is under authority. He doesn't like learning that he is under authority. When we hit a situation where he and I are in a stand-off (it happens) (did I mention he's two?), sometimes I just have to lay down the law. I have to pull out my parent card. My way or the highway.

He don't like it much.

But I've noticed something that helps a lot. And I probably wouldn't have noticed it as soon, if it weren't for having noticed it also in my husband about a year ago.

He needs privacy to accept that he has failed, or made a mistake, or needs to concede.

One of our battles as women is our need to control. It is part of our curse from the fall. It is a heart issue that only God can fix in us. One of men's battles is pride. It too is a heart issue that only God can fix in them.

Since only God can fix the pride, then I have to let go of the control, and walk away. Give him the privacy he needs to let God fix his heart.

If Peanut-lover has made a mistake (it's happened once or twice), he knows it. It doesn't help if I get in his face and remind him about it and tell him he needs to change. I've tried it. Not helpful at all. He needs privacy. That's it. Walk away.

When JJ refuses to concede, we could remain in a stand-off until one of us tires, but the issue won't get dealt with. If I lay down the law (you can have your snack once you get your jammies on) and then walk away, every single time, he concedes.

Humility is hard.

We can model humility by admitting to our kids when we have made mistakes (one thing that my dad always did, which I really respected). But ultimately, only God can change our hearts.

If I can step out, I get out of God's way, and he fixes both our hearts. That's what he's in the business of doing.

Just one of the reasons I won't be homeschooling this one

JJ is such a different learner than I am. He has no interest in practicing anything. He isn't patient enough to do something just for the sake of doing it.

Remember how he learned to walk? Never held our hands to try taking steps. Never pulled himself along furniture. Nothing. Just up and started walking one day.

It's like that with everything. Which probably explains why he's only potty-trained at bedtime and when we're standing in long line-ups.

In the fall, we did swimming lessons. JJ and I were in a class together and KK was in a class by herself, at the other end of the pool.

Towards the end of the lessons, our teacher kept saying that JJ was so much more comfortable in the water than he'd been at the beginning. Even some of the parents made a point of mentioning the difference in him.

But I'm his mommy. I know better.

He was not more comfortable in the water. He never was uncomfortable in the water. He is a water baby. No fear. None. At. All. Which is why he often looks like this, even on dry land:

It wasn't that he was more comfortable in the water. It just took him a few weeks to figure out who the teacher was, so he knew who to impress.

I'm sure there was more than one time that the lifeguard thought of throwing the life-preserver out to him and I. But that thrashing in the water? It was just me trying to get him to do the skill that the teacher had asked us to work on. Not once would he perform the skill for me, but as soon as the teacher appeared, he would execute it perfectly ONCE. Then she'd move on, and the water thrashing would begin again.

It happened again today.

For months now, he's been counting like this, "one... two... one... two.. one... two!" I've been trying to teach him to count to three by counting everything that comes in twos or threes with him. And still, one... two... one... two...

Today, when I was cooking dinner, he ran into the kitchen, threw something on the counter and ran out, telling me that he was hiding. And then he proceeded to count to four. Just like that. I didn't even know he knew four existed. We exchanged high-fives and I went back to cooking.

Back around the corner he went, and this is what I heard:

one...two...three...four...dog...five...six...seven...eight...nine...ten...

Just like that. Confidently and clearly, he counted to ten.

There was great rejoicing in the land.

So, he counted to ten, once. And now that he has mastered the skill, he has no interest in it and has gone back to counting however he wants.

And that, ladies and gentlemen, is why I'm going to have to leave his formal education to the professionals.

I couldn't even remember my password

Oh hello. It's been a while hasn't it?

It is currently 4:45 am and I am at work and finally, I have found some time to spend with my blog.

It has been so long, that I couldn't even remember how to log in. Ugh. What a great journal this has turned out to be.

How about we start with a little update on each of the family members, starting with the little one:

JJ. Oh, how I adore this child. He is, at all times, the dictionary definition of cuteness, stubborness, persistence, and crazy dancing. This month, he'll be two and in the past month, he has reached some pretty big milestones.

He's starting to use many words now, and even string some of them together. Up until very recently, he has shown a definite preference for non-verbal communication. Then suddenly, he started calling us Mommy and Daddy (instead of mama and dada) and very quickly, he's gained many new words. My current favourite is his version of snuggle: nuckle.

Oh, that reminds me. He is the funniest snuggler. It just does not come naturally to him (which is weird because his father is SO affectionate. Ahem.) For example, the other night he calls me into his room. "Mommy?", he asks in his little voice with the exaggerated uptone of the question. "Mommy, nuckle." And he gives me that look, with the pouty little lip. The look with which he will always be able to manipulate me. I climb in beside him and he lays his head on my collarbone. No, that's not comfortable, so he puts his head on my chin, but then his body is hanging off awkwardly, so that only lasts 13 seconds. Next he lays his head on my hip, with his butt right in my face. I wait to see what he will do, but he can't figure out where to put his legs... and on it goes.

Yesterday, he told me that he's not a baby anymore ("baby" while shaking his head no), but is instead a "bick booooyyyyy". Which is appropriate since we moved him into a big boy bed not quite a month ago. I will post pictures soon. It might help to nag me. So far, the transition has been much less difficult than I'd anticipated, although he also figured out how to open doors three days after switching beds. And so, mornings are starting a little earlier around here, which you'd think would lead to more time for me to do stuff... but not so much because you see, there's the third milestone that he has reached...

Potty training. I really didn't even expect to start training this one until he was three. If he doesn't want to do something, there is no WAY on earth anyone can coerce him. But then he gained a new love for being naked. And skills. Boy, has he got stripping skills. I told him if he wanted to be naked, he had to try peeing on the potty. And he did. Suddenly and unexpectedly, I was thrust right into what has, so far, been fairly successful potty training. Which is horrible timing, considering that over Christmas, we will be spending two weeks driving here, there, and everywhere. So my little guy spends his time at home running around in Spiderman underwear, and I spend my time watching his cues and ready to drop everything at the announcement of the need for the "piepie" (potty).

And how about KK? What has she been up to?

KK turned four in November, and I have decided that I really like four. It seems we are finally starting to see some consistent result from all the work we put into two and three and she has developed into a very caring, loving, obedient, gentle little girl.

I'm not saying that she can't throw a mighty temper tantrum if she wants to, because she sure can. But they are pretty rare these days.

She spends her time playing barbies, polly pockets, dolls, and trains. She loves social play. I can never keep straight who she is pretending to be. A princess, a baby, a mommy, a nurse, a fairy, a patient. She loves to pretend she's a grown-up. Quite often she pretends she is the mommy, and I am the grandma, so I spend all day answering to grandma. I really do think I'm too young to be a grandma, although I'm sure Peanut-lover would tell you differently.

KK loves to learn and she regularly pulls out her "school work" and practices her letters. She surprised me last week by being able to recognize many words by sight: my name, Mommy, Daddy, love, her name, JJ's name, to, and from. She also can write words just from hearing me spell them out for her. She's learning how to sound out words too. All this with very little intentional teaching from me. She just works it into her play. She loves to spell her name and I'm quite sure that nearly every sheet of paper in the house has her name scribbled on it. I love how she writes the "e" backwards and sometimes puts the "y" in the wrong place.

I go back and forth about whether we will register her in preschool for a few months. She has all the readiness skills for kindergarten (even her phone number and address memorized) and I'm not eager to push her in the area of academics because I know she will so soon get caught up in pushing herself. I want her to be free and playful for as long as possible. I know she would love it though, and so I revisit the idea regularly.

I love this little girl so much. I fail her so often but she is so forgiving. Sometimes she tells me that I need to ask Jesus to help me be a better mommy (and I do, oh how I do), but most of the time, she tells me that I'm the best mommy. I know I'm not the best mommy. I struggle with her because I am learning on her. I'm not very patient. I forget to be present. But I know I'm doing a pretty good job. I try as often as possible to be conscious in my parenting. And when I fail, I own up to it right away and ask for forgiveness. KK tells me that she will always forgive me. Am I blessed, or what?

Well, this was going to be a full update on all the goings on in the weenut household, but I have been writing for an hour (stopping only to check an IV, suction a patient, and answer a call bell) and now I must get on to my 6 am work. One more hour and then I can head home to sleep and do it all again tonight. Who knows? Maybe I'll even have time to write the second half of this post!

Over and out.

(hopefully not for long)

Conversations with JJ: We've got another talker!

JJ is at one of my most favourite of stages, so far anyways. He is coming up with a few new words every day and we are constantly surprised at his memory and ability to understand what we are saying.

Tuesday, during his swim class, one of the games we played was with a ball and JJ freaked out wanting the ball. Such a freak out, in fact, that all the other parents hurried to get the ball to him anytime it got away from him.

Later that day, KK said something to me about hearing JJ crying in the pool. Immediately, he started whining, "baaalllll, baaalllll". Even today, he still remembers the trauma of having to share the ball!

Wednesday night, we took the kids out for their dates with mommy and daddy. This time it was the boys together and the girls together.

When we got home, I asked JJ what he did with daddy. I love his response. For the first time, he told me a story:

JJ: Brrrrmmmm brrrrmmmm

Translation: They played with trucks

JJ: *motion of throwing a ball* "Uggghhh"

Translation: They played ball

JJ: *motion of licking and biting something, while smiling big and smacking his lips*

Translation: They ate ice cream!

I love how at this stage, his speech is only clear to those of us who hear it often, so when he talks to us, it seems like code to everyone else. It's like we have this special language, which we do, I guess.

My favourite is "munguk" which is JJ for yogurt.

Y'all will remind me of this post in 6 months when I have two kids talking my ears off, won't you?!

Conversations with KK and JJ: tag-teaming

I love it when KK and JJ try to tell me stories together. It's like they tag-team or something. For example:

Mommy: Did you have fun with Daddy this morning?

JJ: DADA!!

KK: We went to the banana place.

JJ: NANAS!!!

Mommy: Go Bananas? What did you do there?

KK: We went on the slide!!!

JJ: SLIDE!

KK: I went on the slide all myself and JJ goed with Daddy.

JJ: SLIDE!! Boooom! DADA!!

Cute, right?

Chasing the girl and laughing at the boy

It has been hot around these parts lately. Dang hot. Yeah, I know it's summer, but it's been extra hot. Miserably hot. I have actually cried about the heat. Often.

So we've been getting out of the house as much as possible. That means I'm getting out during the day maybe every second day (very good for me) and Peanut-lover is getting us out almost every evening for a walk or something.

Last week, we headed down to walk along the water in Steveston. We brought KK's bike because she doesn't get much opportunity to ride it. It was a wonderful idea.

KK was moving so fast on her bike, that I had to run to keep up with her. Especially since every time she turns her head, her bike turns too. Oh, and she thinks that people are supposed to move out of the way for her. And she can't figure out the brakes. It got me quite the workout. And it felt great.

JJ rode in the stroller for a little while, but then started chanting "out! out!" So Daddy set the little guy free. With the sun low in the sky behind him, his shadow was long and right out in front of him. And it made him MAD! He spent the entire time trying to escape his shadow. And yelling at it.

I love this time in our life, with KK learning new skills so fast and JJ just discovering the world. If only I could freeze time.

Every once-in-a-while I get lucky

Photography is my hobby. I know y'all have noticed that I've got the photography bug in me. (Note I said bug and not skills).

I try to challenge myself to compose shots just right, or try out different settings on my camera. Or at the very least, take hundreds of pictures so that a couple will turn out okay.

And then sometimes, I just get lucky.

That's JJ with Peanut-lover's dad, Poppa.

Let me tell you how lucky this shot was. The hat-he-would-not-wear had just been put on. I asked Poppa to tell him how cute he was so that he'd keep the hat on. Poppa grabbed him and suggested a picture (of course I had my camera strapped around my back).

I didn't have time to compose. I didn't have time to focus. All I had time to do was snap one picture and by the time I lowered my camera, the hat was at my feet, the boy and the watermelon were gone.

The picture should have been a blue and red and white streak. But it wasn't.

I got lucky. Don't you think?

Brrrrrr Brrrrrr Brrrrrr? Brrrrr Brrrrr

I must say, JJ is about one of the cutest little kids out there. I'm pretty sure I'm not at all biased either.

ahem.

Let me tell you, I am head over heels in love with this little guy. If you knew him like I do, I think you would be too.


He is the skinniest baby I have ever seen. He's just a little beanpole. You'd think I never feed the kid. The truth is, he eats constantly. Con-stant-ly. He doesn't really play with toys. Instead, he pulls up a chair next to me in the kitchen and snacks on tidbits of our meals as I cook. When we go out, I bring no toys, only healthy snacks to entertain him. He can sit in his booster seat for an hour as long as I keep the grapes and cucumbers and cheese and crackers and pita and oatmeal and beans and carrots coming. We measured it the other day and he eats five times as much as KK. You wouldn't know it by looking at him, though.


JJ doesn't have a lot of words yet, but he is an excellent communicator. And he always knows exactly what he wants.

When he wants something, he will pull me to the area and point at what he wants saying "Brrrr Brrr? Brrr Brrr Brrr?".

Brrr is his word for everything that is not mommy, daddy, KK, Grandpa, Grandma, Nana, Poppa, kitty, dog, ball, bath, uh oh, night-night, diaper, banana, or boots.

One time, he came in the kitchen, missing a sock and holding the other one in his head. He was shaking his head, saying "Brrrr Brrrr. Uh oh. Brrrr Brrrr Brrr. Uh oh." and pointing at the bathroom. Translation? "I dipped my socks in the toilet and I don't think I'm supposed to do that. Could you please come and clean up the mess for me?"

And then there's trucks. JJ notices every truck, motorbike, bus, airplane, helicopter, boat, bicycle, lawn-mower, and leaf-blower within our vicinity. Each one of them gets a moment of reverence and sometimes even a squat-to-get-a-better-look pose. He was just over the moon to be riding with Poppa in the backhoe a couple of weeks ago.

Having a boy is busy. It's tiring. It's all new.

I wouldn't trade a minute of it. My heart is lost to this little guy.

The Difference between Boys and Girls, Part 2

You can read the first installment here.

I find it entertaining, educational, and awe-inspiring to watch how my children interact with the same toys.

Dolls

Since about when KK turned one, she has been inseparable from dolls. At any given moment, she will have one to six "babies" and often another in her tummy. She cares for their every need, tucks them into bed, tells them stories, names them, and teaches them how to interact with each other. She's a little mommy. Once, when we forgot to bring a doll with us on a trip, she actually toted around a bottle of shampoo as her baby for an entire week.

JJ, on the other hand, has been seen hugging a doll once or twice. He finds dolls are better suited for hitting things with (their heads make a delightful sound), chewing on, throwing, using as a stool, and hiding to torture his sister.

Trucks

Now, JJ is all over trucks. He is brrrrmm-brrrrmmming all day long, driving them all over walls, chairs, tables, and mommy. He notices every vehicle when we are out for walks. Loud trucks deserve a moment of silence and reverence.

KK also plays with trucks. She names them, makes one of them the mommy and then invents all kinds of stories with them. Yes, to KK, even trucks are dolls.

If I were the type to believe that we socialize our children to become either feminine or masculine, all I'd have to do is watch my children for a couple of hours to see that femininity and masculinity are built right into us from the beginning. The fact that I think gender roles are a good thing, well, that's a whole other post.

Conversations with KK: Someday

When KK gets talking about how much bigger she is than JJ, I like to remind her that one day, he'll be bigger than her.

It must have finally sunk in the other day because when I said it, she looked at me, surprised, and said, "What day? Wednesday?"

Well, maybe not Wednesday, looking at the size of him now, but I get the feeling it'll be sooner than any of us are ready for it!

Note to self: Uh oh

Note to self: If a sockless little boy, who was previously wearing socks, comes into the kitchen repeating "uh oh" and shaking his head... check the toilet first.

Oh, and bring a towel. That's one puddle you don't want to slip in.

Oh yeah, and toilet locks? They work best when actually locked. Just sayin'.