Fearfully and Wonderfully: This and That

Time sure can fly by. We have had a busy couple of months. We spent the end of November and beginning of December with people being sick. We finished out the preschool year and Christmas season with lots of activities and fun family things, took a trip to Atlanta, came back home and turned around a week later to go back and have a little time away with the boys staying with grandparents, then came home to spend some time trapped in the house with winter weather. Before this week started Gabriel had only gone to preschool once in January due to closures related to weather (plus a holiday and being gone on our second trip for one school day). All that being said, we are all ready to get back into a routine. The boys know how the week usually goes and like the predictability. Gabriel knows that 3 mornings a week are school, one is a trip to the library, and the other is storytime at the Children's Museum. They of course can't really verbalize it, but even on Christmas Day Gabriel said, "But it's Monday. Can't I go to school today?"

This picture sums up how it usually seems around here. Corban is generally wearing pants,
but the wild and mischievous look on their faces is about how it tends to be.

Gabriel spent several weeks around his birthday sick. He was up many nights coughing. We tried steroids and an inhaler, which temporarily helped, but ultimately he had pneumonia. Once he started an antibiotic he bounced back pretty quickly. That was only the second time he'd ever needed one (he got an ear infection shortly before he turned one).

Some random things about Gabriel: He is still loving superheros, Star Wars, Transformers, Ninja class, preschool, reading, pita sandwiches made with ham, and listening to books on CD. Due to Corban's love of dinosaurs and the show Dinotrux he has started to want to play with dinosaurs.

Making Christmas cookies

Gabriel told me the other day that when he grows up that he wants to be a preschool teacher. As far as actually going to preschool, he seems to be doing better. I at least don't see his name on the board as frequently when I pick him up. I was talking to his teacher on Monday and what she said was very encouraging to me. She said that Gabriel is not a disruptive child. He's kind and considerate and listens. He's just "over enthusiastic about life." I like that she summed him up that way because it's true. He is interested in so many things, has so much to say, and things get him really excited. That's not a bad thing. He just needs to learn how to reign it in sometimes.

Gabriel moved up from "Little Ninja" class to "White Ninja" class.
He is so proud. The class is a lot harder but he sure is trying.

Gabriel likes to have "sleepovers" where he is Darth Vader and I am Princess Leia. He wants me to "sleep" in the lower bunk of the bunk bed (where I frequently almost fall asleep while we play). He has captured me and put me in jail there. He's such a sweet captor though. He cooks me food to eat and checks on me frequently. Speaking of Darth Vader, one day Gabriel said to me "I am Darth Vader. I need to go and preach a sermon at my church. It's called Death Star Church of Williamsburg." I guess our trip there was memorable :)

Children's museum in Georgia.

Starbucks date

A couple "negative" things though. We realized over the last month that Gabriel argues with pretty much everything that we ask him to do. From being asked something as simple as to put on his shoes to bigger things like cleaning up or getting ready for bed. I'm not sure how we let it get so bad, but we did. Someone at church told me that with one of her children she used to make them ask permission to ask a question or dispute something she'd been asked to do, so we thought we should give this a try. So, we starting telling Gabriel that when we asked him to do something his first reaction is to acknowledge and obey. Then he can say "may I ask a question?" Sometimes he can and sometimes he can't. If we say he can ask a question and he has a reasonable request such as "can I put my shoes on after I finish this story," then we may say that's fine. However, his first response cannot be to argue or try to change what we've asked. It was a rough week when we first starting doing this, and I know there are times when I forget and find myself arguing with him, but I do think that it's helping overall.

Gabriel also pretends now that he's afraid of the dark. I think he just uses it to get us back in the room, but Corban has now picked up on it and says that he's afraid of spiders. Gabriel will fake cry and when we go in the room say "it's too dark." Then Corban will fake cry and say "I'm afraid of the spiders". While we're talking about irritating habits, Gabriel will not stop putting his fingers in his mouth. I am just waiting for him to get the flu from it. At Ninja class a couple weeks ago I looked out and saw him literally licking his hands. When I asked him what he was doing he said "well, they felt dirty so I was cleaning them." Gross gross gross.

The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe free at the Lyric

Excited to open his Bumblebee Transformer

Bird watching with Daddy and Pop Pop

The boys have recently started sharing a room, with Corban sleeping on the bottom bunk. Most of Corban's clothes are moved over into the room at this point and they love sharing a room. Gabriel still asks a lot of nights "can Corban sleep in my room tonight?" The other night Corban wasn't going to sleep, which was keeping Gabriel awake. I went in to put him in the guest room. Gabriel started crying and said "Mommy please just give him one more chance to go to sleep!" Corban does tend to be the problem with them getting to sleep though. The other morning Corban came wandering out of their room around 6:30 and said "I need to find a pizza." I took him back to bed and Gabriel said in a half asleep voice, "Mom! He keeps asking me for pizza. I'm trying to sleep!"

It's been a change to no longer call it "Gabriel's room" and some nights they have a hard time calming down and getting to sleep, but overall the transition has been good. I am so glad that the boys enjoy each other so much and want to be together. I registered Corban for preschool next year this past week and they both got so excited thinking that they would be at the same school (until we had to explain that Gabriel will be in Kindergarten and won't be there anymore).

Why is this fake chicken talking to me?

And now Corban. Corban loves animals, dinosaurs, Mothers Morning Out, Little Einsteins, Daniel Tiger, books, picking his nose, dancing to the "I like to move it move it" song (from the movie Madagascar), pretending to by a "baby kitty cat" (he calls Gabriel "big kitty cat" sometimes - "is it time to get big kitty cat from school?"), and basically playing anything that Gabriel thinks is fun. When he wants to convince you to do something he says "would that be great?" (for example: "Mommy I want to eat a snack now. Would that be great?"). He is still working on potty training. I'd say he's making progress, but his progress is about as snail paced as it was with Gabriel. He will get there though.

I still love cows

"Sack" still remains Corban's #1 companion. When I have to wash it he always ends up searching the house for it. When he can't find it he goes into the laundry room, hears the washer on, and starts crying "sack!!" The other day I took it out of the dryer and he said, in his most pitiful voice "Sack was gone. I was so sad. Now sack is back and I happy. Sack is my best friend." As the pictures shows, sack can also be used for keeping the sun out of your eyes in the car:

Corban is interesting when it comes to being touched. He certainly likes to sit in my lap and cuddle, but only on his terms. I realized this when he started napping in the queen size bed in the guest room. Since the bed is bigger I can be next to him and sing him a song before he goes to sleep for his nap. He frequently says "mommy will you stay with me for hours and days? Will you stay for 4 days? But don't touch me mommy". He wants me next to him, but he doesn't want an arm around him or even back behind his pillow. The other day he said "don't ever rub my back. Or my tummy. Or my feet. It feel weird." It makes me think back to when he was a very little baby and he would scream and scream. We would hold him very tightly until he calmed some, but then he just wanted to be put into his crib. He did not want to snuggle and rock. Like I said, he loves to snuggle and read on the couch, be held in church, give kisses and hugs, and say "I love you," but the touching needs to come from him when he wants it. He makes it very clear when he needs space.

So, while the touching thing is hard to figure with Corban, he sure can say the sweetest things. I frequently hear "I like being with you Mommy," and "Thanks for being my Mommy." The other day Gabriel threw a big fit over something and it scared Corban. I was talking to him about it before his nap and he said "I like talking with you Mommy. I feel better." The other day we were in the car and Corban said, pretty much out of nowhere, "One day I will be bigger and then I will be the boss like you, Mommy!" Not sure where he got that one from but at least he thinks I'm in charge.

And now some more random, recent pictures: