boys...2 of them

Boys...2 of them. They are so busy these days. They always have been, but this is a different kind of busy. They play. They fight. They love each other that's for sure. They can be so sweet and so mean in a matter of minutes. It's good for them to figure things out themselves. But sometimes mom, or worse...dad, has to step in and sort them out.

Parker shows Emmitt how to do everything...his way. Which Bear is going to say is what I do to him. Which I admit I do. My way usually is best, I'm a mom. (I'm working on that by the way).

Recently Emmitt got a golf putting set for his birthday. Parker thinks it's his toy since Emmitt's too little to do it, mom. We try to tell Parker that Emmitt is actually sharing his birthday present with him and not the other way around. When the tables are turned and Emmitt has something of Parker's he is sure to tell Emmitt that it is his and he is sharing with him. We try to just have neutral toys and they are every body's. So far it's not really working.

Emmitt is a boy through and through. Parker is more nurturing now. But when he was one, he was all boy too. I think it's just with what we've got in the house they don't really have a choice. Other than Bebe Ella and all her doll clothes, toys, bottles, etc...But Emmitt won't as much look at many toys unless they can be turned into a hockey stick, a bat, or a golf club.
Emmitt is changing and getting easier and harder in the same breath. Easier since he is on one big nap (thanks Stephie!) a day. Easier that he is more content to play with toys now instead of just sit and look at them. Harder that he instantly gets upset and squeals like a stuck pig if he doesn't get his way immediately. Easier that he is sort of communicating to us via pointing. Harder that he won't as much speak a word or sign one for that matter, but is demanding something all the time...what we don't know unless he points at it.
For the most part, I would say they love each other and get along well. Parker tends to protect him a bit, but at the same time wants Emmitt to play some things that he just isn't big enough for. Almost daily while I am making supper (with Emmitt on my hip because I can't listen to him squeal and walk beneath my feet) Parker is outside in the backyard playing. Today he officially got all of his snow gear on with the exception that he needed help with the zipper. With the right motivation the kid can get dressed. Mornings for daycare is another story. He will so sweetly ask if Emmitt can come out and play with him too. This weekend we all bundled up and walked on the snow. Emmitt liked it for the first 20 minutes...after that? Not so much.
He can tote Emmitt from one room to another at top speeds in a laundry basket. Emmitt just goes along with it. That is until he gets dumped out of the basket because Parker wanted to do something else with it. And then I tend to scold Parker for injuring Emmitt, when really it maybe wasn't all his fault. I'm working on that too.

Parker is basically 100% recovered from the surgery. He is quietly sleeping (most nights) in his own bed. He isn't gasping for air anymore from the apnea. He speech is coming along and the nasality is either dissipating or we are getting used to it more. You can definitely understand what he is saying now. The doctor even let me check out the tubes the other day, which thankfully are still in there!

Emmitt is teething and teething and teething. I hate teething. About as much as I hate diaper rash, which they usually come together and instantly make me hate them more. He currently has 2 eye teeth that have broken the surface (on the bottom) and the top two are pushing through. I was half waiting for the huge bruises to appear on his gums, but so far we are in the clear. He is in such a clingy mommy phase that I am sort of wishing would go away. I am assured that he only does it when I am around. Even my mom said both boys act differently when I am not around. Which I know we all know that, but usually they don't act that way when people are over to witness...mine do. Emmitt is in the whiny-demanding phase. Which, come to think of it, it's a lot like when he was brand new a year ago. Can colic come back at a year old? That's almost what it is like. Screaming/whining all evening long and only wants mom. Once in awhile he'll be whining really loud, Parker will be making noise elsewhere and Bear will shout over all of it "hey hon, let's have 2 more!". I wish I had a mute button on my life some days. Thank god for wine!

The t-ball set I bought Parker as his payoff on the bribe to stay in his own bed has been broken and taped together with electrical tape (I love electrical tape) many times has been by far a great investment. The boys put on a baseball game for us at night. They put on their hats, bat balls at my walls and furniture and scream loudly when the other one hits a nice ball. It is fun. It is loud. Every once in awhile somebody takes a bat to the head.

He usually toughs it out and (thankfully) it is never the other way around...at least not on purpose. I truly think Emmitt does something like-clock his brother on the head with a bat-just to see him cry or what his reaction will be. The part I hate is that I don't scold Emmitt for doing it, but Parker would have his butt spanked or be in his room for a long time out. Why is that? Parker does know better but at what stage does Emmitt? He doesn't understand the repercussions of his actions or a time out. I may say something like; no-no Emmitt, be gentle to your brother, or that hurts-be nice. I hate that we jump on Parker right away and treat them differently. I need to work on that one too.

I hope these two continue to be friends and love each other. I think we all have to go through these phases with our siblings. The good. The bad. The ugly. Boys are different than girls that's for sure. I wonder what we would be doing at night if we had 2 girls. Nicely combing Barbie hair or fighting over which Barbie gets to where the party dress? I would be freaking out about all that frickin' plastic hair all over my carpet that's what!