Playdate

Today was a pretty fun day as far days go around here. We woke up and decided that we should go for a pre-mom-&-dad-leaving-town-for-a-week check up. A couple weeks ago Wilson came down with basically a head infection- with sinuses, eyes, & an ear being effected. All that cleared up just about as quickly as it came on but he has been left with a cough that has just gotten worse. Diagnosis- the sinus infection just hasn't cleared up. Nothing a little antibiotic, a cherry sucker, and 2 Sesame Street stickers can't cure. Our best pal, Nathan's, little brother was feeling a little under the weather. So, since we all had to miss playgroup this morning we took some Chick-Fil-A over to their house for lunch. At one point we noticed that the older boys were playing surprisingly quite well for a change. We had not had any reports of a car being stolen or a "that's my's" being yelled from Nathan's room (a popular phrase of both the boys & a testimate to how early one's piers have an affect on a child- they both say "my's") They were actually on the floor PLAYING TOGETHER! In hind sight, Jamie and I should have grabbed the keys and the baby and ran- ANYWHERE. Two two year olds playing together is no small feat. Next, we heard the two just dying out laughing, then there would be a pause and then more laughter- which as any mom knows, means there's trouble just mere feet away. This puts you in a huge moral quandary- you're dying to know what in the world is so funny, but you don't really want to see it. You know they're actually having a good time without you and you don't want to interrupt, but you know whatever is so fun, also probably calls for disciplinary action. We sat for a while and listened to the laughter until we just couldn't take it anymore. We had to see. What we found were two boys learning and perfect many age appropriate skills. Basically they had invented a game (skill learned: intelligence, creativity, ingenuity). They were taking turns (skill learned: manners, working well with others) throwing anything they could get there hands on (skill mastered: being 2) and then dying out laughing (skilled mastered: being all boy, destruction is F-U-N). The floor was covered in train tracks, hotwheels, books, puzzle pieces and miscellaneous pieces of wall art (that were apparently prizes for the best throws). On a side note- the smell when you walked in the room would have knocked you over. This game apparently takes away the knowledge that you are supposed to "you know what" on the potty. So we had to clear a path large enough to lay the boys down and change them. They looked each other in the eye and began to chant in a sing songy way "I stinky, I stinky, I stinky. Mamma clean it up, Mamma clean it up!"(skill mastered: being all boy, destruction is F-U-N, boys make dirt & spew it everywhere [Chop we were right all along!] & if you're cute enough, your mom'll clean up anything) We also taught Nathan that you don't have to take a nap right after lunch, 2:00 will do just fine (hopefully his mamma won't hate me for this little life lesson). It actually worked out quite well for me. Wilson fell asleep in the car on the way home, mumbled his mantra "watcha movie" as I put him in his bed, then slept for about an hour. He woke up, came in my room, got in my bed, and slept for about another hour. Then woke up got in my lap and slept for another 30 minutes or so while I talked to Aunt Ash. We topped the day off by going over to Granna and Big Daddy's for the evening. I let them & the dogs finish him off. He was asking to put his pajamas on and get in his bed when we got home and happily only read one book. We said prayers and I tucked him in and left the room without so much as a "say prayers" "read 'bout Jesus" or "mamma lay side you" (roughly translated, pray about everything I've come in contact with over the last two years, read a Bible story- an excellent stall tactic, what mother is going to say "no, we're not reading any more about Jesus, now go to sleep" and lastly, mamma lay down beside me).

For visual aid, below are a couple of pictures of Wilson and Nathan playing (one at Wilson's birthday party and the other in their halloween costumes). Sleep tight.