Today

I noticed tonight that Will's stopped calling, "Bye, Daddy!" on his way up the stairs to bed. It's been his thing for so long, but the past week or so he's instead been very focused on how he's climbing up the stairs: first grabbing each spindle, then switching to the railing, grabbing here and there, just so, and narrating the whole way. Tonight he told me they were 'steps to the train'.

We've left the tractor phase behind, I believe. He still gets quite a kick out of seeing them here and there, but his Duplo tractor has been left behind in the bin as he takes his Duplo train engine to bed with him each night. A recent book favorite is Trains by Lynn Curlee, and though the text is meant for a much older reader, we look at the illustrations and talk about them. At certain pages he says, "Wooooow, look at that," in a very "politely impressed" way, and I can only assume he's imitating my tone. That's the only way I can describe it. It's hilarious and endearing.

He asks for "breakfast", no matter what time of day it is.

Lately he's been showing perception regarding when people or things are hurt or sad. He looks at the train book and tells me that the Indian is sad, or the train is sad that it got into an accident. He calls to me when Barrett bumps his head or cries for some reason. He was very interested in me being sick yesterday and sleeping on the couch, and kept saying the he was sorry that he sneezed and woke me up. When we went to Home Depot and they were (come on!) not displaying their ride-on mowers, he was very sad. I told him I was sorry that there were no tractors at the store, and for the next three days he said, "Mom, I'm sorry there were no tractors at the store."

He calls me "mom"! Come on, dude!

Barrett loves to imitate us. He loves to play peekaboo, LOVES the bath, and loves to clap to music. He is more interested in feeding himself than in being spoon-fed, but won't eat eggs or date bars, so I'm a little stymied. It may be time for some tough love here soon - meaning, if you don't eat what I give you, then you don't eat! I don't want to do that but I might just have to. He seems to want to eat whatever Will is eating, so at least he gets some good veggies.

He's such an easy-going little guy. He just has the biggest smile! He likes raiding the instrument box, finding the kazoo, and crawling around blowing into it. During family worship he sits in his high chair (sans tray), scooted right up to the upper registers of the piano, and bangs his heart out while we sing. Tonight he was getting his hands way up high over his head before bringing them down with an enormous crash.

I've had some success lately, when I'm changing Barrett's diaper, in putting his feet in some warm water and having him go pee. At least I can stretch a little longer between diaper changes, and he's stopped wetting through his pajamas at night. I hope it will give me a leg up in potty training down the road, but so far no luck in catching poop so we'll see. Will's still doing great, though I've started putting a diaper on his during naps again because he's had a few naptime accidents. Once I said, "Oh no... you're all covered in pee." From then on he liked to greet me after naps with, "Mom, I'm all covered in pee." Once he actually WAS, so I take him seriously.

Feeding Barrett a bottle is one of the sweetest parts of the day. He curls up in my arms, smiles at me, and offers me a drink, saying, "Na na na." (imitating me saying "num num num") I've decided to wean him off bottles around a year, and start transitioning to a sippie cup, and it makes me sad to think of that coming to an end.

Barrett's got four fat teeth on top, two on bottom, and cutting two more bottoms.  I dress him in multiple, multiple layers of clothes (our house is cold, propane is expensive) and he looks so fat and edible I can hardly stand it.

Today I played with the boys for a long time. On of the favorite games was holding a stuffed bunny from Chris, Fadwa, Grace, and Elizabeth, and making him sing, "A carrot for Barrett, a carrot for Will!" and tossing the bunny at Will. Loads and loads of laughter. We must have sung it fifty times. Then Will sang, "A carrot for Barrett, a carrot for MOM!" and tossed it at me. I was so excited to hear him sing.