Little stories

Today has been one of those days. I'm exhausted from my long day yesterday and my lack of sleep last night. There's no caffeine in the house and right now, I'd be willing to pay good money for just one can of Coke. The boys have been tired today, too, and Alex has been very high maintenance. Getting him to sleep in his crib instead of our bed has been the nightmare I've been dreading it would be. And potty training Jacob is a daily battle. Some days we have lots of successes, and other days, it's like he forgets he knows he should be peeing in the potty. Earlier this afternoon, I said out loud, just talking to myself, "I've GOT to get out of this apartment."
Jacob: "Why, mommy? Where you going?"
Me: "I don't know. I just want to go somewhere."
Jacob: "Oh. Leave us here?"
I felt like the worst mommy in that moment because he thought I wanted to get away from them. It truly wasn't at all what I meant.
Me: "No, honey. I don't want to leave you here."
Jacob: "Oh. Leave Alex here?" And he smiles.

So in spite of feeling tired, frustrated, cooped up, and ready for the weekend, I'm thinking of some cute Jacob & Alex moments to cheer me up. Right now Alex is napping in his crib, and Jacob is snoring beside me on the couch. I figure I have time to blog a little before it's time to wake him. And this way, you can read about the cute conversations and interactions.

Today after lunch, I snuck into the kitchen to eat a Hostess chocolate cupcake. These are my latest chocolate indulgence and I hide them from Jacob. I don't want him to have that much chocolate in one sitting AND I already have to share the box with Jeff. If the cupcakes need to be divided 3 ways, then I'll have to start buying 2 boxes. :) So anyway, I try not to let Jacob see me eating them. Well, just as I was finishing up chewing the last bite, Jacob approaches me. I felt guilty, like a little kid who just got busted sneaking a dessert she wasn't supposed to have.
Jacob: "What you eatin'?"
Me: "Uh, my lunch."
Jacob: "What is dat?" And he gets right in my face, peering closely at my mouth. He was like a detective examining my lips for evidence.
Me: "I told you, it's my lunch."
I'm a bad liar. He obviously doesn't believe me. I was starting to sweat a little under the lights.
Jacob: "Open your mouth."
I started laughing.
Jacob: "Open your mouth, peez."
So I did. He caught me.
Jacob: "Dat chocolate? I want some chocolate."
So I compromised and let him have 2 Hershey Kisses. Small pieces of chocolate that aren't my latest craving. :)

Jeff & I were trying to delay getting out of bed as long as possible the other morning, so we had the boys playing around in bed with us. Jacob looks over at Jeff, and points to a tiny mole on Jeff's face.
Jacob: "You got a boo boo, Daddy?"
Jeff: "That's not a boo boo. That's a mole."
Jacob: "Oh, a mole." Then he looks up & down Jeff's arms & chest, and says, "You got a lot of moles." Then, "You got a lot of hair. Why you got more hair than me?"
A conversation for another day many, MANY years from now! :)

Twice now, Jacob has bumped his head on the side mirror of a car in a parking space next to ours at the apartment. I'm not sure whether to attribute this to bad parking on our part, or to Jacob's tendency to walk while seeming oblivious of his surroundings. Both times he bumped his head, he turned around, looked at the offending car, and said, "Why you hit me, car? Dat not very nice."

Alex has been saying "Dada" for a couple of weeks now. But he just started saying "mama" this week. :) "Mama" was Jacob's first word (Jeff doesn't believe me, but I swear it was! He followed suit with "Dada" one week later.). Just like his brother, however, right now "mama" is only said when he is whining, hungry, tired, grouchy, wants to be held, or all of the above. "Dada" is said in a sweet, cheerful voice. But even though he only says my name when he's whining, I know he loves me. I want to always remember the look on his face when I'm holding him, and he looks at me, gazing into my eyes. He looks like he's studying every feature of my face, wanting to memorize it. I guess he's thinking, "Huh! Would you look at that? She's got a face! I guess she's not just a walking boob after all!" But seriously- it is so sweet, it sometimes makes me teary. Especially when he gives me one of his hugs & super sloppy kisses after his staring session.

My other sweetie pie also melts my heart when he tells me he loves me. I was so excited when he learned to say that phrase. The first time he said it to me, I cried. The other day, he came up to me and said, "I love you so much. You're my friend." And he gave me a big hug, a kiss right on the lips, and then a little Eskimo kiss! It made my day.
A couple days ago, I was putting his shorts on, and he told me again that he loved me.
Me: "I love you too, bud."
Jacob: "I know you love me." And then he pats me on the head and gives me a kiss, like I was the child, and he was the parent. :)

Jacob loves to stand, jump on, and climb on the back of the couch. It's one of those battles I wasn't sure I wanted to take on, but every time he does, I tell him to stop it. He's not so great about listening.
Me: "Jacob, get off the back of the couch, please."
Jacob: "Okay." And he climbed down.
I thought to myself, "That was too easy", and sure enough, look over to find him climbing back on the top of the couch.
Me: "Jacob! Get OFF the back of the couch, please!"
Jacob: "I not Jay-up! I Peter Parker!" (For those of you lagging behind in your Spiderman trivia, Peter Parker is Spiderman's alias.)
Me: "OK, well, Peter Parker, Mommy said you AND Jacob need to get down off the couch now."
Jacob: thinks for a second and says, "You not Mommy...you Mary Jane." (Mary Jane is Peter's girlfriend. I guess Mary Jane can't tell Peter OR Jacob to get off the couch. I have to give him points for originality!)

Alex & I were playing in the family room when I heard loud yelling coming from Jacob's room. When he's not in the sharing mood, and needs a little bit of independent play time, he'll go into his room and close the door so Alex can't get to him. So I hurry to his room, open the door, and find him standing in front of his bed, playing with his cars.
Me: "Are you OK?"
Jacob: "Yes. I fine."
Me: "Well, what was that noise?"
Jacob: "I do dis: aaaaahhhhh!!!!!" (and repeats the loud, echoing yell that brought me to his room in the first place.)
Jacob: He had a big, proud grin on his face during & after his yell. "I like dat noise. You like dat noise?"
Yes. I love it. Please do it again. I'm sure our apartment neighbors also love dat noise. But I couldn't help but laugh.

There was a giant housefly buzzing around the apartment the other evening. Jacob kept waving it away, saying, "Shoo, fly!" One time he said, "Shoo, fly! Go home to your parents!"

A couple days ago, Jacob said he was going to look at his boo boo in the mirror (he likes to check out his injuries. I guess if they look really bad, then he can decide it hurts a lot more than it actually does.). This normally takes less than 30 seconds, so when he'd been gone significantly longer than that, Alex & I went looking for him. He was still in the bathroom standing on his stepstool in front of the mirror. But he had Jeff's deodorant, and was "applying" it all over. All these years, I've only applied deodorant to my armpits. You may be surprised to learn that for an even fresher, cleaner scent, it's helpful to apply more thoroughly. Jacob suggests that the deodorant be applied not only under your arms, but also your cheeks, chest, the back of your neck, and in your hair. All I can say is, thank goodness the top was still on, otherwise, he would have reeked of some variation of Old Spice deodorant. He's such a little man, and I think it's so cute when he does these little Daddy copycat behaviors with the deodorant & brushing his hair with Daddy's brush.

I often marvel at the imagination of a child. It is so interesting to listen in on the conversations Jacob makes up when he plays, or the scenarios he & his cousin devise when they're together. But sometimes that same imagination can get you into trouble. After the above grooming episode, Jacob noticed the roll of toilet paper sitting on the back of the toilet. He picked it up, began looking through it like a telescope, saying, "I on a ship! I a pirate- arrgh! I looking for sharps!" (sharp = shark) Then he began to freestyle swim through the bathroom- I mean, the ocean- saying, "I swim in the water! Aahh! A sharp!"
At some point, he must have decided that the toilet paper roll wasn't a very realistic looking telescope, but that if all of the toilet paper were taken OFF the roll, that would be much better. So what happens next? I walk back into my bedroom to find a little boy standing in my closet, looking just slightly guilty, with a cardboard tube in one hand and a huge wad of toilet paper in the other. He takes off running to the bathroom. I have just enough time to say, "Not in the toilet! There's too much!" But, the pirate was too quick. The wad of toilet paper wound up in the toilet. And the pirate ended up getting a lecture about listening to his mommy. Fortunately, the story has a happy ending. I was afraid the toilet would be stopped up by the thick wad of paper, but it wasn't. And it's a good thing, too, because I think Jeff & I actually stored our plunger. I guess we decided to take a gamble that no one would clog the toilet in the 3 months we'd be at the apartment. Let's hope the pirate doesn't strike again in the next 6 weeks.

I love everything about Alex's laugh: the sound of it, his big grin & dimples, the way he kicks his legs in excitement, and that you can see his 2 little bottom teeth. I love that he wants to do everything Jacob does. This morning, Jacob was wildly chasing after Hailey, who was barking and running around. Jacob squealed in delight, and Alex immediately squealed. He copied Jacob's squeal two more times. Of course as soon as I got out the video camera, the chase & squealing ended. But it sure was cute while it lasted.

And I love that when he knows you're going to tickle him, Jacob begins to laugh hysterically a good 10 seconds before you've even touched him. :)

OK, I'm cheered up. Now I can have a fun rest of the afternoon with my 2 boys.