It's good to be the mommy

I decamped everyone today upstairs to our bedroom to pack, but then discovered the truly monstrous pile of laundry that would need to be done before I could start in earnest. (Does anyone else feel like all of an item category, whether it's socks, canning jars, or baby blankets, must be clean before you commence packing them?)

Anyway, the three-year-old assisted me on sorting, right up his alley. I went to put the first load in and when I came back, both boys were giggling madly. A had parked himself under one of the piles and would leap out of it toward L, saying, "I'm digging, I'm digging!" And then they'd both laugh and laugh and laugh.

Mr. L is on the move. I am now officially barricading the top of the stairs if he's anywhere up here because he is skerry-fast.

Mean mommy

Today, I told A, "After you have a nap, we can make some cookies. But if you don't take a nap, then we won't make cookies. No nap, no cookies."

Well, he wasn't taking a nap. He was playing quietly in his room (which is the accepted alternative to naptime) but wasn't napping.

About the time his nap should have been done, he came in to me and said, "Mommy, I'm done not taking a nap. Can I go downstairs and not make chocolate chip cookies now? I don't get any cookies since I didn't take a nap."

I know consistency is the name of the game, but I almost want to give him cookies for his demonstration of logic.

Niles loves L Part 2

L had a hard time getting to sleep tonight. He was cranky and beside himself; I think he's got teething pain and I know he's got ear infection pain. Normally he goes to the crib, goes to sleep, voila.

Tonight, even when I got him asleep in my arms, he would wake when put in the crib. Sleep, transfer, cry. Sleep, transfer, cry. Sleep, transfer, cry, scream.

At this point, Niles jumped into the crib, and I was too preoccupied by the screaming (ear-splitting, shrieking) baby to do my normal scoot-scoot-scoot noise at him.

Sleep, transfer. Niles leaps out just as I am putting L down--because he is stretched out exactly where L sleeps. Exactly. And L stays asleep.

I don't want to sound like the crazy cat lady, but I think Niles was warming up the crib for L.

Recovery

We're getting better, slowly slowly. I didn't realize how much I missed my easy-going baby until his smiles started coming back and he did not needed to be held and comforted non-stop. Having said that, yesterday was a trip to the needy farm and I accomplished nothing more than a one-item trip to Costco, so let's hope everyone continues to recover here.

As I write this, I can look over at my bed and see one sleeping husband, one awake and smiling baby, and one mostly-awake preschooler who is gently patting the baby on his belly, saying, "Baby drum, baby drum, baby drum." And now he's touching his feet to L's.

It's funny how tuned in the boys are to each other, even at this age. They communicate on some level C and I are excluded from. L has huge smiles that he bestows on A and sometimes just wants to stare at A until A looks back at him. A has been super-sweet to L and spends his time trying to get L to laugh at him. Yesterday I asked A if he was going to help teach L how to crawl. He said, "Not until I'm four, Mommy; he's too little."