They're Mine, That's the Best Part

I'm still enjoying a honeymoon phase with my kids right now. Enjoying the mom gig for the most part. Charlie's been teething and has had some rough nights and I'm feeling tired and stressed, but my kids light up my world, and it seems like there are so many really small things that I just don't want to ever forget...

***

Our church has a worldwide General Conference every six months that is broadcast from Salt Lake City. We get to watch it from home in our area - thanks to awesome public broadcasting - so we took in church on the couch today. We only expect the boys to be present and mostly still for just one of the four two-hour sessions, but Calvin surprisingly spent most of both sessions today snuggled up "in the nest" (that's the place behind my knees when I lay on my side and bend them), asking questions and repeating things that were said.

Tonight when we were putting them to bed, Henry was not choosing his bedtime story and was doing the pajama time circus, so Cal went in and picked out the stories. He came out with two books in hand and said, "I decided that we need to read some Jesus-y books tonight, since it was Sunday and we watched General Conference today." I think he just didn't want it to end.

So Jesus-y books it was. I personally kinda like them.

***

Henry paid attention off and on to the conference. At the very end, today, though, he was suddenly riveted (standing right in front of the TV) when one of the speakers asked for the little children in the audience to listen for a moment to a few things that they could do to make their mother's lives happier. Henry heard, "One of the best things you can do is put your arms around her neck and tell her that you love her." He immediately turned around with this shy little grin on his face, his head tipped to one side, and sidled up to me with a little blush, to give me a hug. It was so precious - he heard something he should do and immediately wanted to do it.

***

The other night Cal stumbled into my room in the wee hours of the morning saying he had a bad dream. He climbed into bed with me but was so restless and neither of us were getting back to sleep, and David hadn't slept well for a couple nights in a row, so I got up and told Cal it was time to go back to his own bed. He went into the guest room instead and said he wanted to sleep there instead of his bunk. I said OK and even though I hadn't intended to, and he didn't ask me to, I crawled in with him and put my arm around him and we fell into a much more comfortable sleep. I thought nothing of it, but the next day while they were playing, I heard Calvin telling Henry, "You know what Mom did? I had a bad dream last night and so she stayed with me the whole rest of the night. Isn't that nice?"

***

When I made Calvin and Henry their fringie blankets (the night before Henry was born), I mostly intended them to be decorative and had no idea how attached a little guy could get to something like that. Henry has it bad for his fringies. I sometimes forget...

Tonight he found a bright orange wig at Auntie S's that he was alternately wearing proudly on his head and swinging wildly from his hand, saying he had a million orange fingers. Whatever. When it came time to go home, he had it on his head while I was putting his shoes on and it was tickling my face. I said, "Wow. That's a nice wig you've got there, Henry." He gave this sentimental little sigh and in the most wistful voice I have ever heard said, "Yeah. It looks...like fringies." It made me laugh that he even connected the two, but also the way he said it was like fringies was long lost and he hadn't seen it her forever and the wig was a sad reminder of the friendship he once had...This little boy is something else, I'm telling you.

***

And then there is Charlie. David calls him the "baby that makes you want another baby baby." I'm working on a ten-month tricks video. Coming soon. Because even the third time around, "so big" is pretty darling. Especially when he tries to do it while crawling, without sitting up first. Stay tuned...

***

Oh yeah, and I was just about to meltdown about the house being a disaster and so many school deadlines and my brain capacity is capoot and blah...blah..blah...guess I'll go bury my head in the sand blog, and my husband cleaned the kitchen and washed the mirrors and windows and swept the floors and put away all the toys. So now I can study, write, and go to school all day tomorrow in peace. Shoot.

Maybe it can get better than this, but I can't imagine.