The Latest

Oh, so much to tell! I wish I were more disciplined and could get myself on to this blog more often. I know I have already forgotten so many sweet nuggets of our boys' lives. But, alas, life goes on... Here's some of the latest:

Daddy - "Ben we're going to go hiking tomorrow." Ben, about five minutes later, pointing at a pile in the corner of his room- "Okay, I have what I need for hiking, my toys, my books and underwear."

Ben - "Somebody's poopy." Often said when Sam is asleep, as he looks suspiciously at Daddy and Mommy.

"Pollypops" = Lollipops

"Copterpillar" = Hellicopter/Catipillar (yes, they do exist for a 3 yr. old).

Mommy - "We're going to paint your room, Ben." Ben, after running in and grabbing his box of acrylic paints, "Okay, I'm ready." Mommy - "No, not that paint, Mommy picked blue." Ben, as the temper tantrum begins to escalate, "I WANT PINK!!!"



In general, the personalities of our boys are really beginning to shine. Ben is very in tune to the special moments of life. We took a 5 mile hike today to Bunker Hill, just North of Carson. As we were standing atop a rocky crag (not too near the edge, Mom) after eating our lunch, Ben stood underneath a tree with Sam. We looked over and Ben was hugging him, playing with him, getting him to laugh and laugh. Ben looked at us and smiled, like he just knew what a special moment it was for us. In fact, I can pretty much tell any time Ben deems a moment special. He looks up and announces, "I love my mommy. I love my daddy. I love my brother." At least once a day, but more often on the special days. He really is a uniquely gifted little guy. He gets overwhelmed with emotion multiple times a day. More often than not it is frustration and anger, but along with that is the incredible joy and happiness, sometimes goofiness, that he shares so easily with others. I have to remember the benefits of this gift as well as the frustrating ones. We must teach him better ways to express his frustrations, without squelching his passions and emotions. It's a tricky task.

Sam in quickly becoming our little "Joy Boy". That was my Grandpa Al's nickname for my brother, and I think it could work for Sam as well. He LOVES to make people laugh. When he dances around the room, he gets a very goofy dance face which is all for show. He's constantly making a surprised or mad or scrunchy face to make Ben laugh. Sam waves at every car that goes by. He chats up a storm. I wish I could have captured on video today his quirky little half grin as he toddled up to me with holding his pinky finger saying "Owie, owie, owie" in a very unbelievable little squeak. He just wanted a hug. His favorite words these days are, as mentioned, "owie" along with "uh oh", "MOMMA" (usually only when frustrated), and "Ooo oooo Ooooo", the monkey sound. Sam rarely scoots any more. He is walking, nearly running every where. I will try to get a video up soon. Our camera broke recently and we won't be able to fix it for awhile, but we realized our good ol' Mac has a video camera inside, so I'll get that figured out very soon.