Tuesday, January 30

Mini Connections

Funny how reading on the post boards makes me think of little blurbs I should be putting in the baby book or on the blog... Today it was several things about Storm. And a few about Wyl.

I was just realizing how I used to offer to Storm "Here is the trashcan if you wanted to throw that away" and now he's actively searching for the trash whenever he has something that needs thrown away... And how important it is to him to find SOMEthing! LOL A likely looking box, bag, bin-putting it in the fridge or even finding a more "grown up" hand to toss it for him. And heaven forbid someone offer to throw it away FOR him-most times he is adamant about doing it himself. Will I always compare my kids? I'm thinking its likely. Wyl was *told* to put trash away, given reasons we "should", etc. Of course, he was willing at 2 also... is it an age thing? Is it a personality thing? Is it a change in parenting thing? Probably questions that will never really be answered, but it doesn't keep me from asking them of myself, sometimes. Maybe I could use something more benign with Wyl and his wrappers, like "My, you must really enjoy that gum! I see you've had quite a lot of pieces today!" Or maybe not... that doesn't really sound genuine to me... I just have a hard time seeing how he's going to *see* that I pick up his wrappers if he is so absorbed in something that he's oblivious and really not aware of dropping the wrappers in the first place....

I was pleasantly surprised by Dave today, and how far he's come in his parenting concepts and control. Storm had wandered into the kitchen while we were watching a show in the living room-I didn't think much of it, since he often goes and grabs a drink or a little something to eat. After a while, we realized how much time had passed (longer than drink-getting LOL) and how *quiet* it was in the kitchen... Dave got up to check on him and I hear Dave say from the kitchen, "Oh, STORM!!" with an awed horror in his voice, and I'm knowing that there is going to be a big clean up of something-I'm picturing milk all over the floor from Storm having tried to pour himself some... Then I hear Dave say, "Oh, well... " in a half hopeless, half amused voice. Then he related that Storm had gotten our brand new container (opened today) of Quik (chocolate powder to mix chocolate milk with), opened it, and poured it all over the floor-where, I might add, the boys had been playing with dominoes earlier! He had buried some of the dominoes and was taking some and "driving" them through the powder, making neat tracks and patterns. Dave left him to finish playing with it (which is odd enough in itself, since he almost never plays alone and doesn't like to be in a room separate from anyone else-much less TWO rooms away! LOL) and came back to watch some more. A little later, I heard grunting and panting from the kitchen (not really alarming in itself, since he does seem to like to use noises like this quite often in his play), looked in to see him swinging his arms in an odd manner and coughing. I asked if he was okay, but got no reaction as he continued swinging his arms oddly. When I went to look in to see if he was okay, I saw that he had been throwing handfuls of chocolate powder into the air and had a lovely, even dusting in his hair and on his shoulders!! LOL Believe me, you'd cough too if you were breathing in a Quik dust-cloud!! Then he proceeded to grab handfuls and put them into the laundry basket sitting beside him. As I protested half-heartedly, "Oh, Storm, not in the laundry, please..." I realized they were dirty clothes and turned away to go back to the show, saying, "Oh, he's going to have to have a bath tonight!" LOL Soon after, he came trotting in, covered in brown and smelling wonderfully!! LOL Clean up was simple AND Dave got to use his shop vac, which is a rare occurrence and something I think he looks forward to. Dave grumbled at one point that it was a "waste of five dollars", but I told him that was an experience well worth $5! Guess its time to see about getting a tactile table together, eh...? Maybe rice instead of flour or sand, though... that kid gets enough stuff in his hair! :~D Maybe we'll do flour outside this spring... Or sugar in the bathtub! Maybe a container of granulated sugar and one of powdered...

Funny, its getting to the point that whenever I sit down with Storm or hug him, I feel like I'm neglecting Wyl. Its not anything Wyl says or does, I just feel guilty for not spending that kind of time with him any more (not that he needs it as much as Storm or as often, but he still needs it). I feel I hardly spend much time at all with him any more. Sigh... its even harder now that I've changed my schedule around (I think) for when Dave goes on the road again soon... I don't get to read to him any more and we don't have a lot of opportunity for snuggling together. We used to do that after Storm (and sometimes Dave) was in bed, but since I've been falling asleep about the same time as Storm, and Storm's up before Wyl... I'm going to have to find a solution to that. Maybe Wyl can help me brainstorm. I feel like I complain to him too much, too. He's so "on" and full-blast, too... so much... it can wear on a person. And it doesn't help that Dave expects him to be "quiet" (relative term) 90% of the time. Its just a huge release sometimes, I think, when Dave is gone on an errand and I can say, "Go for it!". That will come more easily and more often when Dave's off on this new job.

Although... I just don't know what is going to happen with Storm... He's so used to having Dave around... going a week without him was going to be hard enough, but since they moved his training too far for us to drive to see him, its likely to be 2 weeks before we see him... Dave's been home for as long as Storm can remember-he's had his Daddy 24/7 basically, except for the occasional trip to the store or out job-hunting. He can't even remember being 9 hours away from him before Dave was injured at worked when he was under a year old... He is so attached to Dave, I can't imagine what he's going to go through and how this is going to affect him. All we can do is keep telling him that Daddy's going but he'll be back and make sure he talks to him on the phone as much as possible... It makes me teary and so sad to think how this is likely to break his little heart. :~(

We had quite a good time swimming Saturday, though! It took Storm almost an hour to acclimate to the water, but he didn't want to get out once he did!! Wyl and I had fun playing around and Wyl had a great time showing Storm the ropes-he can actually CARRY Storm when they're in the water! Wyl carried him everywhere after he figured that one out! :~) :~) I got kind of nervous when I lost sight of Wyl-not that any of the water was over his head, but he gets it into his head to be adventurous and just GOES for it, without looking for us to make sure we can see him or who or what is around him that he might get hurt on-or hurt. He seems to be needing more space to be on his own, though, so I tried to keep an eye on him from a distance to keep my peace of mind and to let him have his space.

Oh, yeah-Storm recently discovered video tapes and that he can put them in and chose what he watches! He takes advantage of this several times a day. Bummer our VCR is on its last legs. Sometimes we have to take his tape into the other room to watch. Not as autonomous as he'd like, but he still gets to chose. Hopefully soon, he'll be able to "get" how we handle DVDs and not fingerprint them up, toss them around and SLIDE them across the crumb-strewn floor!! :~O We didn't have DVDs when Wyl was little, so I haven't any idea what age this really "happens"...

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