Please Remember

Every night and into dawn, a magical thing happens to moms.  They forget.  They forget all the horrors of the day, all the screaming or crying (both themselves and the kids), all the direct disobedience in the name of newly found independence, all the arms reaching up to be picked up, all the food that fell on the kitchen floor, all the "Hey Mom, look at this!"  And that, dear readers, is how mom are able to start fresh, excited to see little buddies waking every morning.  It is a miracle.

The flip side of this memory reset is that you don't always remember the things that launch you into hysterics, keep you smiling broadly, or things you hope that you kids never outgrow.  Lately, it seems I have been thinking this an awful lot, so before I forget anything else, I'll chronicle some of the funny, outrageous and miscellaneous here.

These boys move on their own schedule.  From Thomas' late arrival to his down-to-the-wire potty training in time for preschool, he has done it all on his schedule.

Five days after his due date, Thomas arrived

Of course, in the grand scheme of things, it's comical that I worried about these things.  Hopefully, our worries will always be so small.

Ryan also tends to adhere to his own timeline and he's only had 14 months here with us!  From his amazingly quick entrance into the world to his eating preferences to his walking timetable, he goes at his own pace.

Barely waiting to get to the hospital, Ryan arrived a day late.

Carbohydrate anyone?

Or a sweet?

No stopping him now!

In case these memories were not enough, Thomas commanded that Mike play soccer after dinner one night.  Mike suggested they take a quick rest.  Thomas quickly told him no, that he wanted to play soccer and he was the boss.  For the record, he isn't the boss, but he certainly does have his own very strong idea of time and activity!

Thomas was the best two year old on the planet.  Apparently when a kid skips right over the Terrible Twos, he makes up with it with the Freakish Fours.  Thomas is almost bipolar in his behavior these days.  He's either super helpful and loving or obstinate and surly.  Fortunately, this is a very common mom complaint on the preschool circuit, so I am not overly worried, but I am fairly aggravated by it.  This is why it's important to remember how wonderful he is.

Helping feed his new brother at three years old

Yardwork, yardwork, yardwork!

Teaching his brother the finer points of cleaning

Kids say such funny things.  In a completely selfish way, you hope the cute things they say will stick with them forever, but that's doubtful.

3 year old Thomas: "Des smuse me." (Excuse me)
Ryan: "Bra!" (Brother! Said in a way that conveys sheer excitement)

1 year old Thomas:  the "d" sound-kind of like duh, but emphasis on the d (deer)
Ryan: the "d" sound-kind of like duh, but emphasis on the d (deer)

A conversation from chatting with Thomas in his bed at bedtime.
K: Little Buddy, do you think you'll ever get so old that you won't want to snuggle with me anymore?
T (without hesitation): Yeah.  Probably.
K: How old do you think you'll be?
T: Like NINE-TEEEEN!
K: Wow!  That's old.  I hope that you snuggle with me until you're 19.
T: Do I have preschool tomorrow? (moving right along)

These are only a few of the things I aspire to remember deep into my life.  These boys keep on providing fodder at a pace at which I cannot keep up, but I'll try my best to capture our highlights here.