Jones Deere & Freddie, too

A few months ago, our pastor gave Jones and Freddie a tree swing. He'd bought it for his daughters years ago and never gotten around to hanging it. Seeing our boys' affection for John Deere tractors, Pastor Jay knew it was a perfect fit for our family.

Naturally.

My father-in-law hung it in a shade tree in the Pressleys' beautiful front yard recently, and the boys ... well, the boys love it as much as you'd expect them to love a swing with a John Deere logo on the seat.

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!

We Made it to Mayberry.

Not long after we got married, Daddy sent me a link to a travelsite mentioning that you can stay in Andy Griffith's childhood home in Mount Airy, NC. Living, as I do, with Mr. Mayberry, I filed this information away to use as soon as I could.

"As soon as I could" ended up being "for Jeremy's 37th birthday gift." The boys and I took him to Mount Airy for the day and nite of September 13th. 

I don't know why it surprised us that there's not much to do in the town that inspired Mayberry. Still, we managed to have a full day that included eating at the Snappy Lunch (Jeremy loved the porkchop sandwich, a chili-covered concoction which kinda makes me sick just to think about), touring the Andy Griffith Museum (perhaps overpriced at $3 per person), visiting Wally's Service Station, and taking Aunt Bea's Barbecue to a picnic at Pilot Mountain State Park. After that, we let the boys play in the same backyard where Andy did as a kid, and then, the boys in bed, Jeremy and I watched some football that included UK getting the losing end of horrific officiating in its game (that they won, though the score doesn't reflect it) against Florida. 

Sunday morning, we ate pimento cheese and bacon biscuits from Biscuitville (Yes. I'm serious.) while watching "Andy Griffith" episodes in Andy Griffith's home before heading home to Canton. In fact, that scenario provided one of my favorite moments from the trip - in this video, you can see Jones whistling - as he does in Pavlovian fashion whenever he hears the A.G. theme song. When he's bobbing his head just before sitting down, he's whistling, too. I just didn't have the camera in a good position to catch that. 

The other favorite memory involves Jones in the Mount Airy Tractor Toyland. I'm guessing this place used to be an actual tractor shop, but now it's just a shop filled with tractor toys, including one that caught Jones's eye. It was a battery-powered John Deere, sitting in the window of the shop. The elderly couple who owned the store said he could sit on it.  He played for probably ten minutes, while Jeremy and I tried to talk ourselves out of buying the $330 machine for his second birthday present, even though every impulse in both of us wanted to take it home with us.

Ultimately, sensible heads prevailed.  It'll be up to Santa to make our buddy's dream come true.

All in all, it was a wonderful weekend.