Mother Marcus

This is Marcus, sleeping...

lumpy.

He's incubating his angry birds.

Aw, mommy marcus!

blocks

I got to play blocks with this kid today.

I love him, boogers and drool and all.

I love that he's getting it.

Check out this tower:

Definitely advanced for an 18 month old.

I love how excited he gets when he sees my tower

He feels like the first  boy in the world to come up with the clever idea to

KNOCK IT DOWN!

Wasn't that a HILARIOUS idea mommy!?!?!?!

kindred mechanics and pizza king

We went to Pizza King tonight. (aka "The Train Place.")

It was crazy. Wow, that's a lot of kids!

But Peter made his "Choo Choo" face, so that was cool.

I never get tired of that face!

I feel like I am hosting a sleepover for two.. future engineers or mechanics or something. By future, I mean the near future. They may only be in kindergarten... but they should be qualified engineers or at least electricians within 2 years.

One of the jokes I heard tonight:
"What did the circuit board say to the wire?"



They have discussed small engines. And wiring.
They used Seth's circuit board to MAKE their own night light for tonight.

Now they are playing Legos. Quietly. And I am sure they are building something amazing.

happy sharing!

drummer boys

Ridiculousness.

bubble bath

today

They were in a "crash em, smash 'em" mood all morning.

What is that on Marcus-

pearls, or bling?

When I said "say cheese," Marcus burped instead.

Clever.

Yep, he's feeling better.

This one too.

It is a challenge to direct those desires to CRASH, SMASH and DESTROY in productive ways...

This kept them busy for about... five minutes.

Now, what to do with this afternoon?!?!

smother brothers

So much brotherly love these days...

can there be too much?

And where IS that line between hugging and choking?

Loving and wrestling?

Playing and murdering?

Pete will have none of it.

I feel your pain, kid.

Wheels

 Wheels.

Sometimes they speed you up:

Sometimes they slow you down:

But not for long.

Marcus thinks almost falling, seeing other people fall, and falling himself are HILARIOUS.

He will conquer the wheels yet.

brothers

Boys, boys, everywhere boys!  

It makes me nervous when these two bond.

And I laugh at these two...

Eldon, the pest, is now getting pestered!

der ner ner ner ner (guitar noise)

just CHILL.

Eldon, my dear little Eldon....
Really, you just cannot live your life acting like every bug, every conflict, every idea in your head, every time you need a drink, every airplane sighting, every neat thing you see out the window, every SINGLE thing is a five alarm, full blown, EMERGENCY- a let's call the National Guard CRISIS!

It is simply unsustainable, my dear.

If we are to survive these preschool days, we have got to find a way to help you chill out.

Perhaps a nap?

Everythings-a-crisis attitude might be fixed by a nap, right?
So I laid him down early, and enjoyed a half hour of peace while the big kids swam.  Then we sat down for a snack, and as we were eating, we see Eldon coming outside- naked, and covered in pen.

Of course, to him, that was not a crisis.

conspirators

Thinking, conspiring....

implementing the plan.

Wow boys, you are so, so sneaky.

fishers of fish

A fish eventually bit, and stole Seth's pole away. 

It it has not been sighted since.

naptime promises

At home they sleep in a room much like a cave.

I put blankets over the windows in the boys' room, and they add the smells. I'm sure any wild animal would feel comfortable to hibernate there.  When we are away from home, and I try to nap them in a bright, cheerful room, well, they just don't seem to want to hibernate.

Goodnight mommy!

Of course we will behave!

Pete's favorites

Mom

Milk

Backup plan

Standing and siblings!

If only plants would grow like children...

Behold, mother! I have not lost one of the house plants which thou hast given me! 

Now to try something a little more ambitious. 

Oh, boy, my boys.

You think we can handle this?

Rookie gardening...

here we go!

Bad idea #876 (this month)

It's just mud now, but it was full of water and mud.

Hmmm I wonder.....















Ew.  Bad idea.

social skills

I don't blame the boys for getting sick of each other sometimes.

I think now and then they just need a break from each other.

They need other friends to play with...
friends that will let them be themselves,
friends that will let them make the decisions,
and let them put them in jars and shake them up a bit.

like pill bugs

and caterpillars

and helpless little frogs

so clever I almost gave in.

A scowling little boy stares at his plate. Salad. THEN the cookies. Sweet, wonderful, chocolate chip cookies. Waiting for him. Right there, in reach, just waiting for him to climb that very last hurdle before he tastes sweet victory.


But first, salad. Laying there in all its ugly greenness. He scowls deep.

Suddenly, an idea.

“I’m saving the best for last mommy! Grammy says you should always save the best for last!”

“That’s right Marcus. Now is your salad gone?”

“No, mommy, salad is my best! So I’m going to eat my cookies first and save my BEST salad for last!”

An older sibling who believes in objective truth snorts and says, “Marcus, COOKIES are better than salad. Salad is NOT the best.”

“Salad is my best mommy! I just really really want to save the best for last!”

Laughing hard I tell him no, but I wish I could give him points for cleverness!

I really really just love salad mommy!