Nothing of Consequence

For now, UK has the Harrison Twins.  In 18 years, the Pressley Brothers?!?

Another "pretty nice little Saturday."

There are just three tiny anecdotes I wanted to jot down:

1) When I went to get Freddie up from his nap, he didn't pop up, like he typically does when he hears me come in the room. He kept laying on his belly towards the back of his crib. When I got close enough, I could see why: he'd found the open phone jack that was right behind his bed and was having the time of his life, repeatedly poking his finger into it.

2) Before you read this, you should know that I HATE potty talk.  I think it's disgusting and sophomoric, and, like, the least funny thing that I can think of at the moment.  Having said that, I realize that, living with three boys, I am probably doomed to hearing a LOT of potty talk over the next several decades, so that's why I'm including this in the blog - because it was a tiny bit adorable ... as "adorable" as disgusting and sophomoric things can be. 

Jones and I went to the store. When I was changing him before we went, he was laying on the changing table and released a series of long, loud toots. As soon as he did, he got a surprised-looking smile on his face and said, "POO poo."

Which I guess means he's beginning to get the distinctions between the two major variations of human excrement. 

Yay?

3) This was really exciting to me. Because UK tipped off at 7 p.m., the boys went to bed on the early side of the bedtime spectrum ... meaning, as soon as Jones gave me the "all done" sign after finishing his 6:40 dinner, I scooped him up and said, "Okay, it's time to go night night!" and he said, "BI-ble," as if to remind me we had to first read our Bible story. 

And so we did!

Two Boys' Tuesday

Without a doubt, the biggest thing to happen today was Freddie's first time riding shotgun in the grocery car.

But I'm getting ahead of myself.

First, let me just say that I love having Jeremy at home all the time. I hate why he's home, of course, but having him here (for as long as he ends up being here) is awesome. HE is awesome. One of the ways he demonstrates his awesome-ness is that he goes to the grocery store - like, even though I always offer to go myself, he goes, because he LIKES to go. He also likes to cook (I wish he liked to clean toilets).

These store pictures are TERRIBLE,
because they're all iPhone,
because that's all I had.  The ONE time
I leave the house without my camera ...

Today, however, Jeremy didn't go to the grocery store alone. Cabin fever has set in, so the boys and I bundled up and rode along with him.  Just before we turned into the Ingles parking lot, Jones recognized the store, took in an excited breath, and said, "COOK-kie." He took in that same kind of excited breath when he saw that the grocery car (see photo for details) was available!  Typically, it's just Jones in the car, while Freddie sits in the front of the buggy.

But not anymore.

Today, we put Freddie in the front seat, and what do you know? He loved it. Since Jones didn't push him out of the passenger side opening and try to run over him in the produce aisle - a scenario neither Jeremy nor I would have bet against - we have reached another milestone, Folks.

As soon as the boys were strapped in, Jones took another one of those breaths and pointed in the direction of the bakery: "COOK-kie!"

So off we went.

Not long after we got home, it was nap time. I put Freddie down; then came Jones's turn. I asked if he wanted to read a book.  This is like asking me if I want a can of Coca-Cola first thing in the morning.  Of course, he did. If you read yesterday's post, it won't surprise you at all that he picked "The Big Red Tractor." 

After we read it, I handed it to him, as I always do, and said, "Put this back where it belongs." He did as he was told but started to get a tiny bit whiny, knowing what was next.  Trying to quench a brewing fit, I said, "Say, 'Nite, nite, Tractor!'" He immediately said, "Ni, ni, Taaaa-tow," and then kissed the book before putting it back on his shelf and getting into bed without incident. 

A thousand times a day, I am weakened by the cuteness of these boys.   If that's tacky to say, then I am guilty as charged, because I am flipped out in love with my two little buddies.

After their naps, they continued to play in yesterday's big pile of pillows on the den floor. It actually ended up being great for Freddie, because he could stand up and not have to worry about hurting himself if he fell face forward, which he did, many times, on purpose. Win-win!

The Pressleys came over for dinner - Jeremy made barbecue, and, I'll have you know, I pulled the pork myself! - and thus ended another wonderful day!

By the way, I promise I don't intend to write every day - but if riding in the grocery car and kissing a tractor book don't warrant an entry, I don't know what does.

There are times when I'll see a picture of one of the boys,
and they'll look so much like their daddy that it stops
my heart for a second. This is one of those pictures.

Monday's Fun

I appreciate Jones's concern for Freddie demonstrated here.
That reminds me: once he masters patience, we're gonna work
with Jones on brotherly love.

First things first: the boys and I were in our pajamas all day.  To tell you the truth, Jeremy would've been, too, had he not gotten a last minute dental appointment. It's just that it was FREEZING here, and fleecy, footie pajamas seemed the surest way to keep the boys warm (of course, the heat was on, too). I say that, so that, when you see these pictures, you won't assume they were all taken first thing this morning.

Some of them were. some of them weren't.

Speaking of first thing this morning, both boys were very quick to climb into the John Deere car - "taaa-tow," as Jones calls all things tractor-related. I'm thinking it's gonna have to go back in the garage, where it lived until yesterday, though, because it can be a source of great contention, as you can tell by some of Freddie's faces in the pictures below.

In fact, he was sitting in it first thing today when Jones tried to slide in beside him. Freddie exploded in tears - he's getting about 19 teeth right now, and it is DEFINITELY wearing on him in more ways than just the Rudolph-red rosy cheeks. He then turned to Jones and made this "MYEAH" screech right in his face.

It was relatively hilarious.

Continuing his rough morning, Freddie then face planted on the gray track of the Thomas roller coaster and split his lip a tiny bit. Poor buddy.  He's so miserable right now with those teeth popping through en masse like they are.

But back to the John Deere ...

As soon as they realized there wasn't a way for them to both fit
comfortably in the "cab" at the same time, Jones started
pulling Freddie, like he was trying to get his brother up on skis.

By the end of the day, I'd gotten Jones to understand the concept of "It's Brother's turn in the taaaa-tow. You can sit in it in a few minutes," and he actually did really well with it, which made me very proud.  And grateful.

Let's just hope he remembers this concept in the morning. 

A little later in the day, I made a decision: I am throwing away all of the toys, except for the big stuffed animals shown here (except for the Mickey and Tec, both whom he knows, Jones calls almost all stuffed animals "Pooh"). 

Seriously, Y'all. 

After spending the first part of the morning watching the boys fighting over the tractor, I tossed the big animals in the middle of the floor.  Jones immediately started climbing on them, falling in them, and lounging on them, having the time of his life.

I was sitting on the hearth, watching all of this go down, thanking God for the gift of being home with my boys, and, at one point, out of nowhere, he ran over to me with his arms flung wide and said, "Huuuuggg," squeezing my neck before sitting down on the hearth beside me to watch Freddie play at the "Pooh" game Jones had just been demonstrating.

It was a relatively spectacular moment.  

(And I was kidding about throwing the toys away. Jones sure would miss all those "taaa-tows.")

At lunchtime, I decided to try something new.  As most people know, Jones was born a reader. He'd rather have his nose in a book than his hands on a toy. In fact, many, many times, when I put him in his room or the playroom, I'll return to find him, sitting on the floor, flipping through a book. He loves them and will sit for as long as I'll let him, listening to me read.

Freddie ... well, let's just say that Freddie's not nearly as interested in the literary, which is fine, but knowing how important reading is in regards to brain and language development, I've struggled to figure out how to read to him regularly. When I do it, I have to hold the book far enough in front of him that he can't reach it, while holding him tightly enough that he can't wiggle away. It's so frustrating!

This wasn't taken today, but it totally
illustrates what I'm talking about!

So today, it occurred to me that I could make the most of that five-point harness situation (mentioned yesterday) at lunch time and read to the boys then. Jones, of course, loved this. He listened to every book and asked for "morrrrhhh" when I finished. I'm not sure of the impact that it'll have on Freddie, but I'm trying, Y'all. 

I mention this, because I think I may have created a monster.  I hadn't planned to read during dinner, but, as soon as I put his plate on the table, Jones pointed to where the books were and said, "Bock (sic). Peeeeeeeeeassssssss." So he ended up flipping through each book again.

Here's hoping he doesn't expect to have his nose in a book at EVERY meal.

This wasn't taken today, either, but still. Relevant.

Speaking of reading ... our nite time routine is to have our family devotions, and then I go put Freddie down, while Jeremy either brushes Jones's teeth or reads him another book, and then I come in and sing Jones his song and put him to bed. Some nites - like if UK isn't on - I'll read another book to Jones. That's how it happened tonite. I said, "Pick out a book" to Jones, and, not surprisingly, he picked "The Big Red Tractor and the Little Village," by Francis Chan. 

This, so you know, is his current favorite.  Like his mama, he tends to have a one-track mind. For most of his first year and a half, his favorite read was "Dinky Dinosaur's Creation Days," by Darrell Wiskur. Ever since the Taylors gave him "The Big Red Tractor" for his birthday, he's been all about it.

So it didn't surprise me at all that he picked that to read tonite. But what was especially adorable was what happened next. I told him to put that book back where it belonged and pick out one more to read. Very obediently - he's doing GREAT with obedience, which is SUCH an answer to prayer - he put the book back on the shelf that his Pop Pressley built before he was born. And then he pulled it right back off of the shelf and presented it to me as his selection for last book of the nite. 

(That to say, Alison, thank you again for the gift that has kept on giving!)

So that was our day. It was nothing but normal and totally spectacular all at the same time. These boys are a constant source of fun and joy!  Thank You, God, for my beautiful boys!

SUN-Day, Sunday ...

For a lot of reasons, I'm trying to wean myself off of Instagram. That - and trying to remember the funny stuff my boys do every day - is why there's been such an uptick in blogposts lately. They're starting to do a lot of funny stuff, Y'all. 

To be honest, though, pictures are my love language. That didn't start when Jones and Freddie were born - just ask my sister's kids and my high school friends. It has, however, reached a fever pitch, since my bringing home babies. 

Thanks for indulging my obsession.

Here are some pictures from today. But first, a few highlights of our Sunday:

1) While straightening up the kitchen this morning, I heard the boys laughing.  When I walked in there to see what was up, I saw that Jones had turned his pants into a hat. No wonder they were laughing. 

2) Later this morning, I changed Jones's VERY stinky diaper in the playroom. Nothing wrong with that, right? I made something of an error in judgment when I left the wipes in there as I headed back to get ready for church. A few minutes later, I popped back into the playroom to see every.single.wipe pulled out of its plastic case. Jones was holding most of them - in fact, I'm surprised he shared ANY with Freddie!

I've never told him NOT to take every single wipe out of the plastic case, so I couldn't get mad at him. That's what I get for assuming he'll know not to do something. Later, as I dressed Jones, I was concerned to see his face was red and splotchy. Then I remembered, he'd been nose deep in a pack of 72 baby wipes.

That explains it.

3) It was Baptist Men's Day at Canton First!  Apparently, these were an annual occurrence in Jeremy's childhood, but it's been years, since they've done one.  Pastor Jay asked Jeremy to help pull it together, and I was so impressed with how well it went. To God be the glory!  I'm hoping they revive this tradition, because to me, the church felt more energized than it has in a long, long time.

But what do I know?

4) After the boys' naps, we took them outside to ride their tractors.  We've collected quite the fleet!  Jones remains scared of riding his battery-powered on, but he'll cover hell and half of Georgia in his pedal car!  This is so frustrating to me!  

5) We brought them in, and while I made their dinner, the boys watched "Handy Manny." Jones watched it sitting in that John Deere pedal car, and I heard Jeremy say, "Kristin! Come here! Quick!" So I did - and I hear Freddie wailing. "What happened?" I asked.  Apparently, Freddie wanted to sit in the John Deere, too, so he'd tried to slide in beside Jones, who didn't even notice, until Freddie's head was in front of his face. And then Jones made it clear to "Baby" that he did NOT want to share his space. I had NO idea not-sharing started so young.

6) After dinner, the boys had their baths. I hate giving my boys baths, by the way. After getting Jones in the tub, I got Freddie stripped and pulled off his diaper. Before I could get him in the tub, he ... made me wish I hadn't taken off his diaper.  Would you believe that, in almost 2.5 years of living with little boys that was just the second time I've been soaked in pee? 

True story.

7) About two hours after we put the boys to bed, Chef Jeremy took some ribs over to his parents', and I watched a replay of Saturday's Kentucky game. I heard a baby crying. Typically, on the rare occasions when they wake up in the nite, I listen for a minute, and 9.9 times out of 10, they get themselves back to sleep without us intervening. Something about this cry bothered me, though, even though I wasn't exactly sure which boy it was.  So I went back to check it out, and it was Freddie.  When I went in to his room, I expected he'd be standing in his crib, waiting for me (as he does), but he wasn't. 

He COULDN'T. 

When I went in to his room, I hadn't turned on his light to keep from getting him too awake. That to say, it took me a minute to figure out what was up.  In fact, I had to do it by feeling around in his crib, and what I felt was a big ball of fuzzy fleece with a head trapped in it and rearing back like someone had stepped on Superman's cape. 

He'd gotten himself completely wrapped up in his blanket. And he couldn't get out.

I picked him up (it seriously took a minute to disentangle him), and he calmed down quickly and went right back to sleep.  I came back into the living room and laughed at what had just happened, but a few hours' later, when I finally went to bed (we were watching a documentary on Ed Snowden & the NSA), I started thinking about how grateful I was that God had protected him from what could've become a very serious situation.  

See, Y'all? There's a reason I never put big blankets in the bed with my babies!  I'd just put this one in last week. Up until then, he'd been covered up with a tiny afghan my aunt crocheted him. Needless to say, we switched back to the afghan about 9 o'clock last nite.