Inevitably, in the days after posting an "all the small things" type blog, I remember a host of other little anecdotes I forgot to include, like these:
*One morning, Thane was wearing his astronaut shirt and informed me, "Mom, I'm an astronaut and I need a space ship. Will you please go to the store and buy me one?"
Laughing, I replied, "I'm afraid we don't have space in our house for a space ship."
Thane thought for a second, then figured out a solution to the dilemma, "Okay, then just buy a 3-garage house. Then one garage can be for your car, one for Dad's car, and one for my space ship."
*In addition to his glare (which he doesn't do very often anymore), Graham recently learned a new trick, the "pouty face." It's always good for getting all of us to laugh.
*One evening I was gone when it was time to put all the boys to bed. Apparently Bryce and Thane were being especially difficult, and Mark threw up his hands in frustration, "Fine!" he grumbled, "put yourselves to bed!"
Bryce took that charge quite literally. He took Thane to his room, helped him say his prayers, tucked him in cozily, and even spent a few minutes "chatting" with him.
*On a more recent night, I heard Thane cry out from his bed around 10 pm. Thane crying out is not an uncommon occurrence (though it is steadily improving...he used to do it six or more times Every. Night.). I was working downstairs, but heard Mark get out of bed to help him. A few minutes passed, and I heard two boy voices coming from the kid bathroom. Curious, I went upstairs and discovered that it wasn't Mark who'd gotten up, but rather Bryce! Bryce had spoken calmly to Thane, determined that he needed to use the bathroom, and taken him by the hand into the bathroom. What a brother!
*Here's one more excellent big brother story now that I'm on a roll... on fast Sundays Mark has personal interviews with the kids. Technically these interviews are supposed to start when the kids turn five, but Thane hates to be left out. Noticing that Thane was upset, Bryce asked, "come on, Thane, I'll have an interview with you." They went into the bedroom, and Bryce formally asked, "what do you want to talk about first, home, school, or friends?" The interview went on from there, and both boys emerged beaming.
*I recently cut Aubree's hair. We chopped a solid 7 or more inches. We do trim it fairly regularly, but don't usually cut off quite so much.
Bryce has a habit of weighing himself, then running around the house and doing jumping jacks. After all that exercising he runs back to the scale. He's always disappointed to find the same weight. "Come on, Thane," he gestures, "we've got to exercise more so we can gain weight!"
*When Thane gets really furious with me, he hurls the worst insult he can conjure, "Naughty Mommy! Naughty, Naughty Mommy!!" On the flip side, when he's quite happy with me, he cuddles up with his best compliment, "Nice, Mommy. Nice, Nice, Mommy!"
*Earlier this month, Bryce was invited to a Star Wars themed birthday party. We haven't introduced our kids to that saga yet, so in preparation for the party Mark gave Bryce a brief crash course. It must have made an impact because the kids spent a week playing Star Wars, complete with "Dark" Vader, "Yoga," and "Life Savers." I just couldn't bring myself to correct them.
*Thane's most recent obsession is math. Whenever he has an opportunity he asks me math questions. "What's 2 + 3?"
"What's 20 + 20 + 20 + 20 + 3?"
And when he really wants to give me a difficult problem, he asks, "what's one hundred plus five?"
Another favorite trick goes as follows... "what's 4+4?" - 8 "what's 8+8?" -16 "what's 16+16?" -32 "what's 32+32?" -64.... this continues until I really am stretched to come up with a solution. "Go ask Aubree," I encourage him.
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| Thane at his preschool Valentine's party |
*Bryce's reading skills are coming along great. As such, he's been spending a lot of time practicing his reading. Some of that he does on a computer program called Raz Kids that he has through the school district and some is on regular books. Whenever Bryce is reading, his shadow (Thane) is right next to him. This is often frustrating for Bryce, because as he is trying to sound out words, Thane will pipe up with what he thinks the word is, and more often than not, he's correct. No, Thane can't read at all, he's just really great at listening to the stories and figuring out what makes sense to come next.
*For Valentine's Day Aubree got a package from my cousin Tina (the same talented cousin who made her baptism dress). This package contained a fabulous, comfortable, ruffly dress (that Aubree wears every time it's clean), the rough draft of Aubree's baptism dress (in a comfortable, cotton fabric), and an amazing Rapunzel apron. Oh, how Aubree loves that apron! A million thanks to thoughtful, generous Tina!
*Thane is our best healthy eater. He has no qualms about trying any fruit or vegetable. One evening I made brussel sprouts, but cooked them a bit too long so they were burnt and soggy. Even then, Thane didn't care. "More russel sprouts, please!" was his constant cry. Oranges are a particular favorite.
*Graham likes to dance. Here he is busting a move at Thane's preschool Valentine's party. If you look carefully, you might notice Thane in the background decidedly NOT dancing. He had zero interest in that activity.
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