Today

Today Will, for the first time in his short life, told me, "I need to go pee-pee," then proceeded to aim like a pro and- before I could say a word- pee all over his basket of musical instruments.

Today I realized I've become a pro at feeding Barrett sideways, since whenever he and Will are eating together, he is permanently turned toward his brother.

Today I actually breathed a sigh of relief - instead of despair - when I realized Brian was going to be home late after hunting. An extra 3.5 hours to wait on dinner!

Today was actually a pretty good day.

Today, Part II

I feel like Barrett needs a little attention on this blog. Let's admire how cute he was when I fed him his baby food.

He was really hungry tonight, which explains the bit of teariness and his rather crazed expression.

  

Between bites, if I don't move quickly enough, he gets impatient.

  

He's very keen on broccoli-potato. For the record, I used to find pictures of kids with food all over their faces gross, but now I'm a mom and I get it.

  

  

Suddenly, Will enters the room and all hunger vanishes.

Food? What food?

I suppose I'll eat if I can watch at the same time.

Barrett! Barrett?

Tonight, Brian took Will to Meijer to get a movie. Barrett was very tired, so he stayed behind for me to put him to bed.

He was quite slap-happy, rolling around on the bed in his diaper. He alternated between being mesmerized by the light fixture and rolling around on the bed, getting up on all fours and screeching, "Dada, dada!"

Believe it or not, after this he went RIGHT to sleep!

Today, Part I

Will's got a new favorite game.

  

He asks to play it almost every morning or every time he wakes up from a nap. This game frees me up to do NOTHING at all because it requires heavy Momma involvement. Still, I try to take the time to play if we've got a few minutes to spare.

(It is a CONSTANT struggle for me, as I imagine for many moms, to balance household productivity with taking the time to play with my kids. There are arguments in my head for working the day away and for playing the day away. Obviously, the day must involve both, but balancing the guilt associated with ignoring one of the two at every given moment is a struggle.)

When Will gets out of his crib, he says with glee, "Throw Doc, Red down stairs!" He scampers off to find his most unfortunate puppets, who up until this point in their lives have enjoyed nothing but conversation and hugs.

This is the game.

Momma hangs out at the bottom of the stairs, on the landing, with Barrett.

Will perches at the top.

I fling both puppets up to Will, who yells, "Off he comes!" (Not sure why he doesn't say, "HERE he comes," but I find this mistake adorable. He also has a tiny lisp, so it sounds like, "Off he comesth!") Of course, both puppets make wild and wacky cries of terror as they fly through the air, which Will finds very funny.

  

He then pitches them both back down, and laughs hysterically as they bounce down the steps.

  

  

Sometimes he intently watches their progress.

  

I witness the aftermath over and over again, as their broken bodies lie at my feet.

  

Occasionally, one of them will not make it all the way up or down. Will takes this very seriously, and he cautiously proceeds to retrieve the stranded puppet. 

  

  

  

The puppet, for a moment safely in his arms, goes flying once again.

  

Barrett's not quite sure what to make of all the noise - Will laughing, yelling, and mommy screaming "WHAHHH!" in both a male voice and a shrill female voice.

Thus the game continues! I fling the puppets up and they come tumbling back down.

Off he comes!

WHAHH!

"Oh noooo!"

  

And here they come up again!

  

Good throw!

  

  

  

  

After a while, I say, "A few more times, will, and then we have to [fill in the blank]." He says, "A couple more!" Only he pronounces it mores, lisping the s at the end.

  

Satisfaction

  

  

This is a fast-moving game. Which means, momma needs to move fast to get the puppets back up to Will or he starts shouting, "Get Red get Red get Red!"

  

  

Finally, I say, "Okay, Will. Doc and Red need a nap. One more time and then we're done."