Mom Remembers

It can be really hard to live with a toddler (not to mention two!).  In a not-so-recent The Onion article, a "reporter" teased that toddlers have been found to be bi-polar.  I certainly feel that way about my kids sometimes.  One minute they are dancing and laughing and playing happily by themselves; the next minute they are screaming "I kill you!", throwing themselves to the floor, screaching, sobbing, or lashing out aggressively.  This kind of behavior is undesirable.  It drives me crazy and is really embarassing in public.  It is not the way mature people handle themselves.  It won't make them any friends.  I definitely want to help my children grow out of temper tantrums. In my zeal to eliminate temper tantrums and all "excessive" displays of negative emotion, I used to have mini temper tantrums myself.  I would haul the offending child by the elbows to his room (screaming louder than he was) and chuck him unceremoniou...

I spent two weeks with Carl on the "proven Three-Day Potty Training method". For most of the time, it seemed like a couple of fruitless weeks of staying home and rushing to the toilet every thirty minutes while my incontinent son peed straight through his undies and across the carpet.  But just when I was about to give up, something clicked and he (finally) had his first dry day on the second-to-last week in April. This was fortunate for me, since it was a critical week. My parents and my grandparents came and we all went to Provo for my brother's graduation. I had intended to give up when my family came to town but I just had this feeling that we were so close. I decided to be brave and keep Carl in underwear. So scary. But, then: elation! Let it be recorded: April 21, 2011 Carl was dry all day. He was so proud of himself, asking me to use the toilet everywhere we went: at convocation, at the restaurants, at the hotel, and all over the campus. And I was so proud of...

SOREN: Dear Heavenly Father, we are so grateful for this day.  We are so grateful that we could fly to the moon.  Please bless the missionaries and please bless the prophet.  Please bless the nuts, in the name of Jesus Chirst, Amen.

SOREN: What is that building? ME: That is the city hall. It kind-of looks like a castle. SOREN: It looks like the temple. ME: Yeah, I guess so. SOREN: Daddy lives in the temple.

Scott blew his nose at church and then I saw him open the tissue and whisper to Soren about the contents.  I asked him: ME: Are you guys talking about boogers? SCOTT: Yeah. SOREN: Boogers are yummy!

Carl is (finally) walking.  Yes, he took his first steps about two months ago.  But since then, he has been very reluctant to improve on that skill.  I couldn't coax him into taking any solo steps at the Duede's house for Christmas and for most of this new year, he averaged about 2 or 3 steps a week. But two weeks ago, I figured out what motivated him: love.  He wouldn't walk for any number of yummy small treats and he wouldn't walk for excitement and praise but he would walk for hugs and kisses.  And in the last two weeks of practice, he has gone from a rare couple of steps to walking 80% of the time.  He has transformed from my little baby to my big toddler. He waited so long that this doesn't change much.  He could already get into anything he wanted to and it isn't like he was chomping at the bit so there's no eliminated frustration.  It's been a pretty seemless transition.  The only change is that I look up and see him walking to me, ...

A few days ago, I went to pick up the boys' friends Victoria and Leah for a playdate.  I was pulling Carl and Leah in our red wagon; Soren and Victoria were alternatively dawdling and running along the sidewalk.  When we got to the street, I told Soren and Victoria to hold hands and stick with me as we crossed.  On the other side, they kept holding hands and Victoria said "Let's walk fast!"  I watched them run clumsily ahead of me hand in hand and I laughed at the things they said to each other. SOREN:  Ham was the first monkey in space. VICTORIA:  My shoes light up.  Look at my shoes! SOREN:  (looking at her shoes)   I have dinosaur shoes. VICTORIA:  My shoes light up. SOREN:  I see a bird!  It flew away into the sky! VICTORIA:  Let's walk fast. SOREN:  Let's go home, hun.