"Where dat ball?"

Today was the kind of beautiful that has to be seen to be believed. As Freddie and I left the gym - Jones, feeling sick, stayed home with Jeremy (which, by the way, is why he's still in his pajamas in these pictures) - I noticed the sky, and it absolutely took my breath away. I tried to think of a word to describe it, but I couldn't. That's why I'm not using one here.

So after their naps, we got the boys outside. Specifically, we took them to the Pressleys' front yard to give Jones another chance to practice his t-ball.

For whatever reason, he preferred fielding the ball to hitting it tonite. Then, when he'd go to get the ball, he'd throw it somewhere else to "hide" it before running over and asking, "Where dat ball?" I didn't know what he was doing at first. He'd run out to get the ball, and then come back to me without it and say, "Where dat ball?!" "IT'S RIGHT THERE IN PLAIN SIGHT," I'd think to myself before Jeremy told me what he was doing. He knew, because Jones had done the same thing to him when they'd played on Sunday.

You can see the whole charade go down in this video.  We honestly don't know where in the world he got this little game, but it sure is fun to watch.

(Transcript: He says, “Dada. Where dat ball?” then, “Baby ... oh, no (as he strokes his chin).” Then, he yells, “BALL!” as he looks for it.)



And here's a little anecdote about Freckle. For as much as Jones is all mine, Freddie is just as much his Daddy's boy. For some of our visit to the Pressleys' today, Jeremy and Freddie sat on the step outside the house, while Jones and I ran aimlessly around the (beautifully-landscaped) yard.

I walked over to the step for a minute when Jeremy got a call. As soon as he put his phone to his ear, Freddie looked at him and put his hand up to his ear, as if taking a call all his own. It was precious, and you'll never know how much I hate the fact that this picture is so fuzzy from the haste with which I whipped out my camera to take it!

Though Freddie walked more
today than he has on any other day,
he still won't walk in the grass.
He invented the little strut you see here
a few weeks ago to avoid crawling
on the rocky concrete of our driveway.

I introduced Jones to the concept of bark
today. Mind: BLOWN.

Here's Jones, chasing ants,
as he loves to do. I'll post videos
of that someday.

Just because Nana wasn't home to open the door
didn't stop Jones and Freddie from
ringing the doorbell ... like, a thousand times.

Video Diaries, Cont'd.

VIDEO #1
Today, I was FINALLY able to get a video of Freddie walking. He's been doing it for several weeks now, but everytime I pull the camera out, he suddenly gets the urge to crawl.

Actually, like Jones started out, Freddie's still crawling more than walking. I'm hopeful that, also like Jones, he'll become a full-time walker while we're at Pawleys Island in a month ... if not before.




VIDEO #2
Jones's primary chore is helping clean up the playroom every nite. One of the cutest things that he does all day is after he's done cleaning up. He'll go around the playroom telling all of his toys, "Good nite." I don't know what prompted him to start doing this, but for weeks, I've wanted to get it on video.  Tonite, I did.

Here's a play by play of what's happening. First, he's trying to put his Build a Bear puppy ("puh puh") in the box where he sleeps every nite. Every nite, he has trouble getting the lid closed exactly right, but he tries, because, let's face it, he is his father's son. Then, he goes to the Cars carpet to straighten it.  I did this every nite for awhile, and now, even if it's not out of place, he ALWAYS goes over to "straighten" it up.

Here's a transcript of what else HE'S saying (hopefully, you can understand me):

Jones: "Uh-oh. Need hep, Mama ... [in the carpet part, I have NO idea what he's saying, except for "Pooh." and then something about falling, which, as I told you last nite, he is REALLY concerned about these days]."

Me: "... ready go nite nite?"

Jones: "Rea-rea."

Me: "Okay. Tell 'em nite nite."

Jones: "Nite nite, ???. Nite nite, Puhpuh (puppy). Nite nite, trac-doh (tractor). Nite nite, ???. Nite nite,  fi-cal (I'm thinking 'flashlight,' because he was right beside the Handy Manny flashlight that lives in his toolbox). Nite, nite, car(s). Nite nite, tote (truck). Nite nite, tote (truck). Nite nite, pah (plane). Nite nite, bus. Nite nite, boze (bulldozer). Nite nite, bus. Nite nite, bus. Bye bye, boze ... ??? ... Nite nite, Dada."

Jeremy: "Nite, nite, Son."

Jones: "Love you, too, Dada."

Video Diaries

VIDEO #1
Jones has unearthed my "Mousercize" record. As we listened to it in his room this morning, I was amazed by two things: 1) the fact that I still remember almost every word of the 1982 album that I haven't heard since about 1983, and 2) how much Jones enjoyed getting his cardio on.





VIDEO #2
A few weeks ago, Jeremy was helping Jones brush his teeth. He had him sitting on the bathroom counter, as we always do when we brush his teeth, and Jones slipped off the counter. Now, he slipped right into Jeremy's arms (never hitting anything AT ALL), but you'd have thought he fell out of a second story window.  Ever since, he's been a little skittish about sitting on any counters (or letting me lay him on on to change his diaper), even when I'm right there for him to lean on, so I've been teaching him that, if he falls ... well, see for yourself.

Easter

Happy Easter!

Since last Thursday, the entire Pressley family has been battling the Plague, so today's planned celebration got postponed to tomorrow. Still, the four of us had felt well enough for long enough to make it to church this morning ... and, after a nap, to dinner tonite at J. Arthurs in Maggie Valley. Tomorrow, we're celebrating both Easter and "Dahdah's" birthday at the Pressleys' house ... assuming everyone stays well.

Oh, and here's a funny story from yesterday:

For months, Freddie has had a fascination with pulling the grate off of air returns.  He does it here, Mom's, the Pressleys'. Well, Saturday morning, the boys were in the "dee" (den), drinking their juice, and I was in the kitchen. Jones stood at the gate between the two rooms and said, "Juice down dere, Ma-ma.

Huh?!?

So I walked into the dee and followed Jones to the open air return. When I looked down into it, I saw that he was right. There was a juice cup. I pulled it out and hand it to him, as he clapped for my success. A few seconds later, he said again, "Juice down dere, Ma-ma." This trip required that I stick my hand down into the open return, since I couldn't see anything else. Of course, I pulled out another cup, and, once again, Jones clapped. I can only imagine how many more times I'll be mining "treasures" out of those things.

Also, when we got home from dinner tonite, we were all walking up the steps. I counted them, as I always do. Tonite, when I said, "One," FREDDIE followed with "two," and he picked the count up again when I got to "five." Now, if I could just get BOTH boys to say, "ONE."

Shortie

I've taken his little step stool out of the playroom.
Now that I have, Freddie's favorite sitting spot is on the
hood of the toy Bronco that belonged to
his daddy as a boy. It's hilarious to watch him "park" there.

There are about a thousand pictures I want to post, but, as is the story of my life, now that the boys are in bed, there are about a thousand things I'd rather do than write a blogpost - most notably, take a bath and read Twitter.

There are a few things that happened over the last couple of days that I really DO want to jot down, though:

1) Last nite, as I was getting ready to take Freddie to his room, I said to Jones, "Tell Brother, 'Good nite.'" Jones blew him a kiss (which is very typical) and then said, "I ugh ooo, Ba-bee." THAT little addition is NOT typical. In fact, though he'll almost always say, "I ugh OO, Mama" when I say it to him, it's the first time Jones has said it to Freddie. And it was adorable.

These are probably my favorite jammies
he's ever owned. Thank God for
Old Navy.

2) Today, Freddie's sleeve was down over his hand. Jones noticed and went over to the John Deere Cozy Coupe where Freddie was standing. Jones tried to get the sleeve up over Freddie's hand, but when he couldn't, he said, "Mama, Ba-bee. Hee (hand)." It was just really cute watching him try to help Freddie.

3) Later, he was doing anything BUT helping him. I was in the laundry room, folding clothes, and the boys were in the den. I heard Freddie Bear crying. When I walked in to check it out, Freddie was on the floor, belly-down, and Jones was on his knees right beside him.

Before I'd said a word to him, Jones looked up at me, shrugged his shoulders, and said, "I own know, Mama" (I don't know, Mama). Guilty conscience much?

4) The Pressleys came over for dinner tonite. They brought with them a massive Easter basket for the boys. In it, there were two stuffed bunnies, one for each of my buddies. Jones's was the bunny from "Guess How Much I Love You."

He spent part of the evening crawling around on all fours, giving his bunny a piggy back ride. Oh, and for probably ten minutes after I told him Nan and Pop were coming over, Jones would periodically say to me, "Nana comin'! Nana comin'!"

SO sweet!

Hymn of the Month

"The Joy of Jesus"