Surge of words

So, I'm probably going down in the books as the meanest mom ever, but I had to take Auden in to get his one-year shots today. I had already waited two months in hopes that this other doctor would open his practice nearby, but the recording on his phone and the message on his site says that it's not in the cards for us now. Because I didn't want to wait any longer, we took him to the other doc I'm not so keen on. Do those shots have to take forever? I swear, I don't remember them taking that long when Logan had his. Four shots--two on each thigh. Oh the crying, oh the tears. It hurt my heart, and to make matters worse, he was yelling, "Momma! Momma!" the whole time I was pinning his little arms and legs to the table. There should be some kind of law against making mothers hold their own children down for shots.

He bounced back though, much better than I did, and we all ate dinner together. Auden has been a little slow to pick up words of yet, but he's started saying "momma" pretty regularly. You must be careful what you wish for--any time he wants something now, it's "momma!" He also says "dada" and "uh-oh," though the two don't go together as often as you'd think. Tonight, he said "more," which sounded like "moe," when he wanted more pineapple slices at dinner, and he said "ball" when we were tossing the ball around after dinner. When we asked him where his mouth was, he opened wide and said "Ahh!" with a heaping mouthful of food. Pretty adorable.

Trick-or-treating was tonight, and Logan dressed up in his old-school Batman gear. Little Robin, Auden, stayed home with me to hand out candy, but he tried to swipe a Blow Pop every time the bowl came within striking distance. Logan made a pretty good haul and had fun going around to neighboring houses with his buddies from the block. But his trick came earlier today at Miss Dawn's. Apparently, he and his cousin Kaleb were playing on the playset in their back yard, and Kaleb told Logan he couldn't go down the slide. Not being one to accept the word "can't," Logan stated that if Kaleb didn't let him go, he would punch him in the face. Of course, Kaleb didn't think Logan would actually do it...nor would I, for that matter, but he did. My son balled up his fist and punched Kaleb right in the jaw. Where is he getting this stuff?! Maybe we should cool it on the superheroes for a while...or I should stop punching Eric in the face...maybe.

Yeah, Cards!

I just had to do it. Today, while running some errands, I paraded my boys around in their St. Louis Cardinals hats in honor of their World Game Series win. I did get a few snooty, disapproving looks from (I can only assume) Cubs fans here and there, but we were happy to represent.

On a sad note, we found out today that my parents had to put their dog, Bart, to sleep yesterday. I always joked that Bart was their midlife crisis furry baby, and I'm so sad for them and Greggie--Bart was a wonderful pal, and we're all so sad that he got so sick so suddenly, that he had to go like this. Hope you're enjoying an exciting romp in the great beyond, buddy. We'll miss you...

The Brute

Auden has become quite the scrappy young lad. He's always been pretty tough, considering his young age, 1 year and and 2 months now, but he's really going to extremes lately. He pushes people over, loves to engage in a game of tug-of-war with Logan and his blanket, purposely bangs his head into things, and smacks and slaps at anything with such force. He used to gently pat or stroke your face when you told him "gentle, Auden." Not now. He thinks it's amusing to whap anyone, anytime. When he's in his high chair, he rocks himself back and forth so forcefully, we're afraid he's going to give himself a concussion, since his head bangs the back of the chair. Miss Dawn has taken to putting him in the high chair because she's afraid he's going to hurt himself. Yesterday, he nearly turned himself over in the high chair at a restaurant because he pushed himself backward so hard. Seriously, this kid is crazy. I have never felt like tv shows reflect reality accurately until I saw the preview for "Up All Night," which shows a bleary-eyed couple trying to wrestle their child into submission and they attempt to affix a diaper to her. "I don't understand," the mom says. "When did she get stronger than me?!? " That's my life these days. My one-year-old is a brute.

Though he may have a tough-guy image all his own, Auden is also showing signs of being a momma's boy. He's saying Mama! now all of the time, especially around 11:00 when he wakes up for whatever reason. It's cute. Sometimes.

Logan and I had a quite amusing exchange around bedtime the other evening. He had to put on his underwear after his bath, and he said, "Mom, are these my panties?" "Uh, no, Logan. Those are your undies," I replied, thinking it's pretty silly that boys and girls even have different names for their underwear. You can tell he's around little girls for most of the day now. "Why? I like panties better." "They're just undies, Logan. Girls wear panties and boys wear undies." I couldn't ignore the fact that this sounded strikingly like another conversation I'd heard before in Kindergarten Cop."

Today at the park, Logan showed off his Spiderman skills. These swinging platforms are hanging from poles, and you have to step on the platform, then work your way onto the next one by grabbing onto the pole and bringing the platform closer to the one you're currently standing on. Logan couldn't quite read the pole attached to the other platform, so he tried "webbing" it. Pretty funny.

butterfly in the basement

Forgot to mention--so when we were in the basement playing tonight, Auden suddenly shouts "Oooo!" excitedly and hobbles toward the futon. I had no idea what he was going for, but then Logan started shouting excitedly too. A little white butterfly (probably a moth) had somehow gotten into our basement and was walking around on the couch cushion. Both of the boys were fixated on it, saying hello and wanting to touch it. Just wanted to remember that.

Naturally

Our evenings are always so short. But it was a nice one tonight. We had dinner, then went downstairs to play. Ended up running around the basement in circles. Then, when we grew too dizzy, we travelled around like various animals--we hopped like a bunny and a frog, slithered like a snake, lumbered and trumpeted like an elephant, scampered like a bear. Auden joined in, too, though I was really worried he was going to smack his little head into the toy or book shelves. He took a breather and then cut a rug to a tune on his keyboard. Usually, he does a little rhythmic squat and head bob, shaking his head "yes," his fluffy hair bobbing right along as well. Lately, though, he's started a new move--the open-armed spin. You know he's really into the music when he's spinning and bobbing his head.

Bedtime has been an ongoing challenge with Logan these days. He's in bed. He's out. He's in. He's out. And it's always such an interesting question, comment, or request that has drawn him from bed. He wants water. He needs to be covered up again. He wants to check on what we're doing.

Tonight, I put the boys to bed solo since Eric is out playing poker with some friends. I guess I was off my game. Logan and I put a puzzle together and read two stories after the boys had taken their bath and I had put Auden to bed. I commenced my nightly ritual of tidying up and was preparing to grade yet another stack of essays when I heard Logan get out of his bedroom.

"Mom! My teeth are already brown! You forgot to brush my teeth!" This proclamation was followed by a sigh of frustration and a frowny faced shoulder slump. See, one night Logan refused to let me brush his teeth, or to brush his own teeth, so I told him his teeth were brown and only brushing them would make them white again. The threat of pain and holes in his teeth didn't work, but brown teeth did, apparently...Is the lesson we take away from this that three-year-olds are just as vain as adults?

So we went to the bathroom, started to brush his teeth, when he started to complain about the toothpaste. He didn't want his, he wanted daddy's paste. And of course he had to spit every two seconds.

"Do you try to be annoying, or does it just come naturally?!" I spouted off in frustration.

Logan's matter-of-fact response: "It just comes naturally."