24-Pound Penguin

Netflix! You're killing me! I'm supposed to *save* money, not spend it! I've had Crash (Which I know I should watch, but I simply can't commit the *time*) for weeks.... I'm sure you understand...some things are important but you just can't prioritize them in front of "...or I could just sit here. And *not* watch 'Crash' for the next two hours."

Anyway. This week here's what happened:

Gage began the next-infamous catch phrase "My byself." As in:

"Gage, Let me give you some yogurt."

"No, Gage do it my byself."

Whatever, dude. Go ahead. Do it "Your byself."


Also, we went Trick-or-Treating. Thanks, Steph, for braving the torrential downpour. Yes, I said torrential.

It's not the easiest thing in the world to walk through the dark, pouring rain, carrying an umbrella, a 24-pound penguin and a sopping wet bag of candy. (Because of course *he* wasn't foolish enough to wade through all the puddles. He was clever enough to demand a ride.)

A kindly, elderly lady handed a Tootsie-pop to Gage. I'm thinking "Here's a chance for me to prove what a good job I've done teaching Gage manners. We've gone over this a hundred times. Here comes the old 'please' and 'thank you.'"

Me: "What do you say?"

He: Watching elderly lady with an obvious light in his eyes. "Put the lollypop in da bag."

Me: (smacking forehead) "D'oh!"



But all in all, things are going well. Gage learned to scale the tall side of the couch. Which, upon Mike's and my discovering, we requested he repeat 567 times. So he should sleep well tonight, anyway. But he never tires of "Where's Gage? Here I am! Comin' up the couch!" Wiry little devil.

Lila is totally up in the crawling position. I'll have to post a pic, although the only one we have is totally out-of-focus (Thanks, Mike. Not pointing any fingers, but, you know... There *is* a focus feature. Just sayin.').... Heck. I'll post it anyway. You'll like it.



And...she started solids! She's finally eating cereal and bananas. We'll see how that goes (read: So far...not well. Have I mentioned how much *laundry* I've done today!?) ....

And I had an all-out argument with Gage today. You'd really think an adult would be above that ('cause that's what I am now, right?), but no. Not so much.

Me: (collecting Gage from playing at cousin Jackson's house.) "We have to leave now."

He: "O-tay. Bring dis home." (confidently holding a tiny black pick-up truck that belongs to Jackson)

Me: "No. That belongs to Jackson."

He: (after careful consideration) "No. Gage bring home."

Me: "Nooo. Jackson has toys that stay at Jackson's house. Gage has toys for Gage's house."

He: "Nooooo. Gage no toys. Jackson toys. Gage no toys."

Me: "Right. You've got no toys. You poor, poor thing."

Does my cynisism know no bounds!? Hoping *someday* that will change....

There you go

I wanted to tell you a couple of the funny things Gage has done lately.

He's been a real comedian these days.

If I ask Gage to do something he tells me that he has too much to do. I'll be, like, "Gage, get your shoes, we're going to the store." He'll say: "Gage lots to do," hop on his tricycle and ride away.

"Time for your bath."

"Gage lots to do."

And the tricycle. He's been 'going to work' all week. He kisses Lila on the head, hugs her around the neck and says "Goin' to work!" then he climbs on the tricycle, tells Lila "Drive safe!" and rides away. After he rides around a little bit he comes over to me and says "Gage work at Jackson's houes (his cousin). Gage saw wood, Jackson hammer nails!" and the whole process starts over again. It's too funny.

Last weekend Mike and I took the kids to Newhope. We ate lunch in our favorite restaurant, Mother's. It never seems like it's going to work with the kids, but they always make it work because they rock. We try hard to stay on top of Gage's behavior, because the last thing we want is for them to remember us and be mysteriously booked next time we're in town, LOL. So, whenever we're eating out and Gage raises his voice I talk to him real softly and say "All of these people are eating their dinners. They like to have things a little quiet while they're eating. We need to use a quiet voice in the restaurant." He squealed loud a couple of times at lunch today and I said, "Gage, what are these people doing?" and he sighed all dramatically and said in this really bored voice, "Eating. Quiet voice." At least something is getting through! I joked to Mike, "Another 897 times and I think he's got it."

And the other night we heard a strange noise in the house and Gage looked at me all wide-eyed.

He: "Hear that sound?"

Me: "Yes. What do you think it was?"

He: "Cookie Monster opening my door in my room."

Poor kid! He just can't get the damn Cookie Monster to leave him alone.

Today we went to a fall festival and there was a huge sandbox with lots of metal trucks - tranctors and dump trucks and diggers. Gage had a blast playing with them. They also had a couple of those big plastic climb-ons, you know, with the slides and tunnels and stuff. There was one that was like an RV and Gage, who is usually pretty shy about playing with other kids, was being fairly brave about sharing his space. At one point he and another little girl, probably about five years old, were in the back of the little RV and Gage was ready to climb out. He says, and I swear this is exactly how it happened, "Excuse me. Coming through." She moved a step away to give him room. Gage touched her lightly on the back, like to thank her, and said "There you go," before walking by her. I almost lost it. He's such a sweet kid, it drives me nuts.

I feel guilty for not having much to say about Lila.

She's doing awesome. She's almost five months old now. Typically she only gets up once a night, which is great, and sleeps for six hours before and six hours after that one time. Works for me. She's constantly on the move when she's on the floor - she isn't *crawling* yet but she's definitely moving. She rolls both ways and creeps on her belly, so she can move a good couple of feet every few minutes. She knows her mind, too. She loves to play with baby toys (Gage never did...?) but if she drops it, MAN does she go from happy to miserable quickly. She's laughing a lot now, too, which is charming. She loves to have her belly kissed (but, really, who doesn't? Oops - TMI)....

Second Guessing

You know what I said to Gage today? I siad: "It's okay with me if you want to cry. But I'm going to close your door because I don't want to hear it."

It felt like totally the right thing. And it *was* totally the right thing. He was wailing and complaining and I was tired of it. If you want to know, he pulled himself together within the minute after I said that to him and we both walked out of his room cheerful as can be.

But it's times like this when you wonder how you got so mean. So heartless. What happened between then and now? What happened to the skinny girl with long hair in those pictures from just five years ago? She would have held that little boy close to her heart and steadfastly hung on to the repeated: "Let it out. It's okay."

She never would have grown tired of the 'I was sleeping...and I was awakened...and I wasn't ready to be....' (which actually comes out as: "Aaaaargh. Uuugh. Maaaaaw," when he's crying).

Besides, if my husband said that to me..."I'm going to close your door because I don't want to hear it." I would freak out. I would wonder what I ever saw in the guy in the first place.

Parenting takes nerves, boy. There's no two ways around that.

But then there are the times that you can see it's really paying off. He accidentally ran his tricycle over Lila's hand today. She didn't even cry, but he hopped off the bike, kissed her on the head, hugged her around the neck and said: "I'm sorry, Yi-yah."

All by himself. And that was cool.

I know what you mean, now, about lying awake at night wondering if you made the right choices. And it's a cycle, really, because who knows!? Tomorrow it'll be something else.