I keep thinking, I need to blog. I want to blog. And then I am breathlessly catching up or looking ahead and I miss my opportunity to blog. I hope that isn’t a metaphor for this time with the boys, because wow!, we are doing crazy interesting things with them now.
They play better together than they used to, but they also now have moments when they want the exact same thing and they lose their rational minds. For instance the straps on the stroller. Gilbert has recently learned to fasten them. Seamus has learned how to unfasten them. You’d think this made for symbiotic play, but I assure you, it does not. It does consume many minutes in their day of working the straps.
Things Seamus says:
“Easter? Can we color eggs?!” “Grandaddy shouldn’t let me have coffee, but he always does.” “People are nuts!” (The last one comes from me after driving home yesterday in bad traffic. I think it’s pretty good that that’s what he picked up, since it means I didn’t say anything worse.) “I love Playdoh.” “Mama, am I Pig Will or Pig Won’t. I don’t like my onions, but I’m going to eat all my enchiladas.” “Mama I’m talking now.” “Can I tell you something?” “Are we going to ____ or no?” Constant narration of everything.
He’s also becoming a little bit of a tattletale. Yesterday, at Oxon Hill Farm National Park, he and Gilbert started all these little boys running up and down a hill together. Next thing I hear is Gilbert crying, and Seamus running, pointing to another kid, “He knocked Gilbert down! That boy knocked Gilbert down!” Now, G wasn’t hurt, just surprised, but the kid who knocked hime down got quite a talking-to from his mother. I told her S was just happy that he hadn’t knocked Gilbert down.
It feels worth it to do stuff now. I’ve always been ambivalent about Halloween, Easter, etc with little kids, but now the boys love these experiences and seem to get something out of them. We went to an Easter egg hunt this morning, and they had a blast collecting eggs to put in their baskets. Gilbert understood the concept and Seamus had been looking forward to it. Seamus talked about trick-or-treating for weeks afterwards. He’s so excited for his birthday he almost can’t contain himself. “Mama when we get back from Boston, we’re going to start working on my birthday!” Cake, candles, and family, that’s it, but those are big times.
So by standing on the threshold, I meant that we’re perched on being able to do really fun things with the boys, but now that I’ve written this post, I think we’re already there. I’ve been thinking a lot since my friend came to the CEA conference with her 11 month old. So many things about that age that I don’t remember, but it was sweet. However, it also made me realize how far we’ve come. The guys can go get their shoes and put them on. Seamus can almost go to the potty by himself. They can go to sleep at night by themselves. Yet they still play with us and tell us funny things.
Academic Leigh Speaking 