Babbles, Babbles Everywhere

Our house is now filled with the wonderful "Bababa" and "Dadada" babbles of Peter (or "Peas", one of his newer nicknames). I love it! It's sounds so much more grown up than his previous coos. Even Jack noticed ... "He's talking, Mom!".

He's also rolling and scooching more accurately to get closer to toys or Forbidden or Dangerous Objects (I tell you, he knows when he shouldn't play with something, and he beelines right for it!). Peter also has a hilarious "I want that" look -- one of these days I'll capture it on camera and post it!

In the mean time, I did snag a picture of Thomas doing his precarious hand washing stunt.

His feet are not touching the stepstool at all -- just one foot is on the cabinet knob. But he's pretty careful and he gets the job done! He is also doing quite well with potty training -- I'm so proud of him!

Jack and Thomas are getting excited about Thanksgiving this week. They're looking forward to having family come visit us, and of course the yummy food. I was explaining the concept of Thanksgiving to the boys, and Jack asked me "Are we going to Mass?".

I told him we weren't planning on it (because we normally don't on Thanksgiving), but I was struck by the connection he made between holiday and Mass. I suppose it does make sense, after all, most all of the holidays we observe as a family are religious and going to Mass is part of the celebration. As I was trying to think of how to explain to him that this holiday is different than the more religious holidays (and therefore we didn't need to go to Mass), it occured to me that *my* thinking needed correcting, not his.

I just finished telling him that Thanksgiving is when we give thanks for all the good things in our lives, and exactly who are we thanking? God. What's one of the best ways to thank God and participate in a deeper Thanksgiving? Go to Mass. So, I think I will be taking Jack and Thomas to 9AM Mass on Thanksgiving after all -- it seems fitting and consistent with the family culture we're trying to establish. And it was Jack's idea after all -- good job, little man!

Fingers always taste better...

when they are on someone else's hand.

Michael was pretty unfazed by Peter's attack ... until Peter started crying (Why? I don't know -- his fingers weren't the ones being munched!).

When he heard Peter cry, Michael's bottom lip pushed forward (in an adorable pout) and he began to cry in sympathy. What a sweet little man!

The Rock

After nearly 5 years of living in this house, I am finally seeing some progress in my backyard reclamation project -- beating back the throngs of shrubs, assorted prickly plants, and bunny and squirrel dens that have had their run of our yard for decades, I'm sure.

This past week, I got around to tackling the bushes near the large, lovely boulder near the bottom of our yard. As I worked, all of a sudden the boys started squealing with delight over their new "mountain" that I had uncovered. It is actually a very cool rock, with little divits and gullies where the rain has eroded it, narrow pathways just the right size for little boys to climb through and hide behind. And even a little outcrop that begged to be ridden as an imaginary horse (or giraffe, in Jack's case, and a whale, in Thomas's).

It was really fun to see them playing on the boulder almost like they would a play structure at a park. And here it's been sitting in our backyard all this time, waiting to be uncovered. It didn't even cost me anything except for a little elbow grease!

In other news, Peter has become quite the contortionist. His feet are in mouth whenever he gets the chance, and socks last about a minute before he yanks them off and sucks on them. He looks like he's bending himself in half to reach those toes -- it's funny! He's also rolling all over the place, including under chairs and coffee tables, and in the middle of whatever Jack and Thomas are doing, which sometimes results in exasperated cries of "Peeeeter!" from the boys. Oh yes, this little man is definitely going to keep his big brothers on their toes.

It's off to work he goes.

The boys waaay down at the bottom of the yard.

Jack takes this rock for a spin.

Little mountain goats.

Feet, glorious feet!

Jack's pick for president...

Jack told me this morning that Jesus should be president! When I explained that Jesus is King of heaven and earth, way more important than just the president of a country, Jack changed his vote to Daddy :).

'Cause That's My Fun Day

Ah, Sunday evening is drawing to a close and I'm wishing we could turn back the clocks again tonight! I do love Sundays, and today was just about perfect.

The boys did very well with the time change (I expected them to get up around 5:30AM "new time", but they got up closer to 6:30 -- yeah!). They were very, very good at Mass. Jack and Thomas were very quiet (Jack was intent on trying to read the stained glass windows during part of Mass), and Peter actually laid his head down on my shoulder when he got tired and fell asleep for half an hour -- no fussing or crankiness, he just drifted off -- it was one of those sweet baby moments that I treasure, especially because I know there probably won't be too many of those left in the months to come.

It rained a little here and the weather was cool, and I made applesauce in the crockpot which made the house smell like fall :). Then we had a good dinner, and put some bluegrass music on for the boys while they cleaned up their toys. Jack was dancing like Steve Martin (spot on!) and Thomas was doing a darn good Pappy O'Daniel impression from O Brother Where Art Thou. It was just a very pleasant day!

We also had a good Halloween on Friday. Jack, Thomas, and I made popcorn balls from Grandmom's recipe -- they loved it! David came home from work early and we watched Superman, ate pizza, and tried to get the boys to dress up like Superman using an Indian blanket from Grandmom as the cape :). Thomas and Peter were willing, but Jack wasn't having any part of it. He was amenable to dressing up like a Dodger, though! It was simple -- no trick or treating or Halloween parties, but we had a good time.

This week will be busy coming up -- on Election Day I'd like to take the boys to visit Jesus at Adoration for a little while (our church is having a special day-long Adoration), even if we can only stay for 10 or 15 minutes.

Like Kim mentions in her beautiful post, we pray that the election results -- both the presidential election and the many propositions across the nation -- are in favor of the dignity of human life from conception to natural death. Sometimes Jack hears David and I talking about politics, and asks what it's all about. I've explained that there are two men running for president (aka "Boss of America") and we want one to win and not the other. He asked if the other guy was mean, and I thought about it for a second and said "Yes, he doesn't think babies who are in their mommy's tummy are real people". Jack looked over at Peter, who was in my lap trying furiously to bat at my plate with his chubby little hands, but who was IN my tummy only 4.5 months ago. It was a powerful moment as I watched him process what I had just said.

For Jack and Thomas, Peter has been part of our lives, a real part of all of our lives, from the moment that they knew I was pregnant. To think that anyone could deny his personhood all that time in the womb is ridiculous, and even Jack at just 4 years old, knew that. It's funny -- I've always known where I stand on this issue, but having to distill it down to its simplest form for my 4-year old really hit home for me -- who in their right mind could think a baby in its mommy's tummy isn't a person? And, more importantly, who would want such a person as boss of our country?!?

Let me close by saying how grateful I am to my children for the joy they have every single day just in being alive, and for their way of making the important things in life seem so simple and clear.

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Thomas makes a slightly wary Superman.

This Superbaby has a superpower for rolling all over the floor, seeking out crumbs and forbidden Big Boy Toys.

A hint of a shadow of some eyebrows perhaps? He does have an impressive eyebrow furrow, regardless :).

This family bleeds Dodger blue.

Peter, just seconds before attacking Thomas's "Buddy Bear".

Helping to make popcorn balls on Halloween!

Jack does the dirty work while Thomas conducts quality control.

Thomas doesn't approve of the level of stickiness involved.

Jack dives right in.

Last but not least, Elmo on a pumpkin!

If you give a boy a camera...

he will want to take a picture of something really important.

He will search high and low, and will finally decide to take a picture of a scrape on his leg.

Taking a picture of the scrape will remind him of Grammy and Poppi's RV step, where the scrape happened.

Thinking about the RV step will remind him of how much fun he had helping Poppi fix the RV. He will talk about all the different tools that Poppi had, and how he needs to go back to the Blue House soon so he can help Grammy and Poppi some more.

Talking about Poppi and his tools will remind him of the other fun things he did at Grammy and Poppi's. Like the airshow. He will want you to find his Thunderbolt airplane and his little brother's Flying Fortress airplane so they can fly their airplanes around the house.

Flying the airplanes around the house will remind his little brother about all the fun that he had at Grammy and Poppi's, too. He will say "I miss Poppi" and then will talk about all the hair that Poppi has on the back of his hands.

Talking about Poppi's hands will remind the boys about playing Spider with Poppi. They will want you to play Spider, too, and they don't mind too much that you don't play as good as Poppi does.

Playing Spider will make the little boy think about Poppi's watch, since that is also close to his hands. He will have fun remembering how he borrowed it from him and pretended it was a camera.

Thinking about the pretend camera will remind the boy of taking a picture with a real camera. He will want to use your camera again.

And chances are, if you give him your camera, he is going to want to take a picture of something really important with it...

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(written with apologies to the author of "If You Give a Mouse a Cookie..." (who really knows how little kids' minds work!), and based on a compilation of funny things the boys have said since their visit to Grammy and Poppi's last month.

Happy Sunday!

I'm not sure which photo I like better ... this one, because of Peter's adoring gaze at Thomas:

Or this one, where Jack is "helping" Peter to say "Cheese!".

In honor of this weekend, which has been a little rough because Jack and Thomas have both been very tired and very cranky, I wanted to share a few of my favorite things about the kids that I think about when they're particularly trying my patience:

Jack: I love his hand gestures, especially when he's pontificating about something (which is... pretty much everything). Yesterday at dinner he wasn't saying anything, but he was gesturing as if he were, and it was hilarious. Oh, and if you ever want to see something really funny, wink at him. He'll wink back at you, but it's very involved -- there's a wind up of the head, and then he fast-pitches the wink right back to you!

Thomas: lately he's been adding "ses" to the end of everything to make it plural. Like "feetses", "kneeses", "sockses". It's cute, and it probably won't last long because I try to repeat the correct word after he says it incorrectly so he knows the right way to say it (and I'm sure he'll catch on quickly), but I love hearing his made-up grammar rules all the same :).

Peter: I love feeling that happy, rumbly vibration in his back when he laughs, or "talks" while I'm holding him.