August 17, 2008 Part 2

I'm back from nap duty and have thought of a couple more things I want to document.

Ben thinks he is so funny these days. He will do something, laugh at himself and say "I funny!", with a great big smile. He cracks me up. Other things he says a lot these days is "mommy, come see!" and "you like it?". He is still stuck on this porcupine thing and, most of the time, that is the answer to the question "what would you like to eat for breakfast/lunch?". It is also the answer to any question to which he does not know the answer and it is normally accompanied by his big, beautiful smile.

Ben has this thing about computers. He just can't seem to resist pushing buttons, even though he knows it is a no no. Today, I caught him (again) playing with the dad's computer and I disciplined him for it, as he knows very well will happen in this situation. I was holding him afterwards and he said "I turn three, I computer, I turn three". I cracked up laughing. He knows that when he turns three he gets to start watching a little tv so I guess he thought he might also try for a computer of his own. He wants one "like daddy's" because, as he says, "I wike it best". I saw a Leap Frog type letter/phonics-learning thing at the homeschooling consignment store yesterday for $10 and I almost bought it. It opens up like a computer and it has a small (very small) screen in the part that folds down. It also has a keyboard of sorts so it looks very much like a laptop. I know he would love this thing and now I'm wishing I would have bought it. I'll have to go back over there sometime and see if they still have it or something similar. His birthday is at the end of September so it will be here before we know it.

This morning at breakfast, Nick said "I want milk please". Both boys are doing very well with their pleases and thank you's, although they are still learning when to use want, would like, etc.

It is so funny having toddlers because, one day, you are suddenly hit square between the eyes with something you have been saying all the time but you never realized you said it that much. The word that recently hit me in the eyes is "need". Suddenly, out of the blue, both boys started saying "I need that", "I need to..." or "but I neeeeeeed it", etc. to me and to each other. It really cracked me up because it made me realize how often I tell them they need to do so and so or I need to do so and so. Very funny. The other popular thing to say now, if things are not going just the way one of them wants it too, is "I so sad". This is usually Nick's saying and he says it with so much inflection and meaning in his voice that it just takes everything I have in me not to crack up laughing, especially since it is usually said about something really funny, like the cat does not want Nick's display of affection, or Nick does not get his way about something he wants. Very funny. I really love it that they can communicate so well now. It is so much fun. I frequently tell them that they are two of my favorite people in the whole wide world. So now they will sometimes, out of the blue, say "mommy, whole wide world". Very cute. Nick is especially very affectionate these days. He is definitely our little touchy-feely guy but Ben does not appreciate it much when Nick is touchy-feely-huggy with him. On the other hand, Ben does need a lot of hugs and holdings at various times too.

In other news, the dad is working on finishing up the master bathroom floor, from the tiling project. He is still doing hospital duty, rounds every morning, on-call until 6:00pm weekdays and all night on Sat/Sun...or something like that. We have had a lot of things interfere with finishing up the bathroom floor, most significantly the dad's recent hospitalization. But he has it almost finished. He has put all the baseboards back up, the nail holes are caulked and he is now doing the final touch-up painting and some final caulking. He has done a beautiful job and the tile looks really nice. He really pays attention to the details and does a wonderful job. We are both very pleased with the tile that we picked. It ended up looking very nice in our bathroom.

I have a list of things that I need to finish but I can't seem to spend enough time on any one thing to be able to mark it off my (mental) list. I really need to write down my list, as I might be more focused and be able to accomplish more that way. I am still working on analyzing our grocery bill and we still have more work to do on our budget. I am still working on lifebooks for the boys and am feeling very guilty that I am not further along. At some point soon, I will need to start shopping for fall clothes for the boys, as I am sure nothing from last year will fit them. There are many of other things on my list of to-do's but those are my top priorities right now.

Pictures to come. Happy Sunday!