tender and otherwise

I had a hard week this last week with the kids.

So I want to write this post to remember some of the good things.

Owen was really sweet today during church. Jared took Reid out of sacrament meeting because he was being disruptive, so it was just me and Owen on the bench. I beckoned Owen to come snuggle with me and he started patting and rubbing my belly gently. The baby responded by moving around near his hand, so he put his ear up to my stomach to see if he could hear anything. Before now he hasn't really shown much that interest in me being pregnant, compared to Reid anyway. It was cute to see him bonding with the baby in such a sweet way.

Later, as I was standing in front of him he said, "Whoa! That is a BIG belly! Let me see it. " After lifting up my shirt a little so he could see it better, he continued with, "Yep. " :)

Poor Owen is most definitely color blind. He got in a tiff with a girl in his Primary class today because he was so sure an object was green and she kept telling him it was red. He has also come home with purple prizes from school too, thinking they were blue. He can't see the red hue in purple. I just think his "condition" is so fascinating. It just makes me wonder how differently he sees things.

Owen has another invite to another birthday party. I made a comment to Jared that he better stop being so friendly, or we are going to go broke trying to buy all his friends birthday presents! The plus side to the one coming up this week is that we are going to try to get a sitter for Reid while Owen goes to the party. Date night! :) It's on our anniversary too.

Owen's favorite after school snack is pretzels dipped in yogurt. I have to admit...this is pretty dang good. :)

His appetite is growing and it's showing in a few of his pants. If I thought his pants were getting short before...sheesh. Growing like a weed he is. Good thing he can wear his "capris" with snow boots so you can't tell they are too short. We picked him up from a birthday party this last week and the mom reported that he ate 3 pieces of pizza, plus cake. Better late than never. He is definitely making up for all those years I stressed about him not being a good eater. I'm tempted to give him pants for Christmas though. :)

Reid has been loving all the Christmas music at this time of year. He calls "Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer" and "Silent Night" his songs. Today, the organist was playing "Silent Night" for the prelude music and he started belting out the words. He got most of the words right, but when he got to a part he wasn't sure about he just made up various lyrics about "mother and child." I really need to get him on camera singing. His attempt at vibrato is hilariously adorable.

The potty training is going well. I was running errands with the boys yesterday and realized after two hours that I hadn't asked him if he needed to go. He held it for another couple of hours until we got home and then made a beeline for the bathroom. I was so proud of him.

We did have a mishap today though, because he was so mad, sad, and terrified of getting a haircut that he went all over the hair on the floor. Lovely. He kept screaming at the top of his lungs and saying, "I HATE HAIRCUTS!" "MOM! AM I DONE YET?" while buckets of tears, snot and slobber {and in this case...pee} sloshed everywhere. Okay, okay. I get it. And that folks is why I only cut his hair about every two to three months. I'm just grateful I got most of my practicing days done on him long ago so I can now maneuver around him and get his hair cut done during all that drama.

He can go by himself, but most of the time he wants me there to supervise...I guess. He just wants attention I think. He'll shout down the stairway with, "I need a little help up here please!" I just can't get over how much he talks like a little adult...well sometimes.

In his prayers he often prays to get bigger so he can go to work with Daddy. At other times though, he'll use the excuse that he's too little to do this or that. He's definitely at the vulnerable stage where he wants to grow up and do big boy things, but still be cuddled {and coddled!} and loved like a baby.

Watching Toy Story is very interactive for him. He'll start off by just watching but pretty soon every Toy Story toy we have {and we have TOO MANY} is pulled out and he's reenacting scenes and making up his own movie scenes. He especially loves that we have two miniature Buzz figurines, so one of them can be the real Buzz and the other one can be the "wrong Buzz." {Toy Story 2}

We were watching the Church nativity video tonight. When the bright star appeared in the night sky, as a sign of Christ's birth, Reid shouted, "Wook! The Tooth Fairy!" Ha ha...what?

Okay there a lot of Reid, but I'm with him all day so that's bound to happen. One more...we were doing some Christmas shopping in Kohl's and Reid was so into looking at something off to the side that he ran smack into table full of jewelry. He looked up at me stunned and said in a really sad voice, "I better watch where I'm going huh!?" Poor {cute} baby. He got a nice good hug after that.

That's all I can remember right now. I feel a little better about our week now. :)