Trying they have been, oh yes indeed. Maybe it's in the air, something about the environment, you know, stores that can't wait for Thanksgiving to put up Christmas Decor, or the Santa Commercials bombarding the TV - and the kids - day in and day out. Truth is the boys have tried with all their might to drive us insane over the past two weeks. It's one of those times when us parents feel like complete failures, wondering what the next 40 years will be like.
First it's William with the 56 or so requests per day to go "poop on the potty", all false alarms of course. Then we show up at the Zoo and sure enough, the olfactory evidence hits us in the face, then the look of guilt, then the adamant denial of any wrongdoing. Every day!! There is a path now carved into the carpeting leading from the living room to the boys bathroom...when everything gets dropped immediately to corral the self aware pint size straight to the proper equipment, parents rushing, perhaps more panicked than the boy himself, in hope this will be the end of potty training and the beginning of autonomy, not to mention economy. Alas, one is faced with the over-heard yet true statement: "boys may follow each other, but each will have his own individuality and pace". Then it's the almost unbearable demands for independence, wanting to do everything by himself, not so gently accompanied by the quite brusque requests if not direct orders for specific items and or action...make your own list, trust me it's endless. William must be forgetting he is two and half years old, it's weird, but we do too!
And Edward with the ongoing laments: "homework is boring, school is boring, when do I get to do what I want, you never do this, I never get that, me, me, me, mine, mine, mine, and my brother this, and William that" and the "life is so unfair" galore. We even hear bombastic and overly dramatic statements such as "I'm too young to die - let me play with my legos!!!" or the ever popular "I will never eat again in my whole life unless you let me xyz".
Loved they are, no doubt, in an awkward phase, both of them, YES! And we're already thinking we're too old for this!
That being said, here are the news:
Well I mentioned that already, we went to the Zoo last week end, the little one by Paramus. William was pretty content with seeing two pigs, one eagle and a Mountain Lion. The weather has been rough these days, perhaps the remnants of some hurricane along the coast line. Today was spent in the local park, spending energy which lack of would later create insubordination and blatant disregard for basic rules.
As for me, I am slowly recovering from Shingles and I am not sure what is more painful, the Shingles itself or the realization that my supposedly "adaptive" haircut to cover forehead is nothing but a botched interpretation on wet, haggard poodle...blah.
I should also mention this: I find that Scott is aging quite well, in fact, I'll go as far as saying he looks better today than he did 12 years ago!
Enjoy the pictures,
Cheers,
S.
