Mama Bear

Since this is a blog for recording memories of my boys, I better put the bad with the good. This one brought the Mama Bear out in me and broke my heart.

Yesterday was a church dinner activity. I decided to make a trifle cake and James was so excited I was making a treat for church! To make sure he realized this was a church party, we told him that we were eating dinner, treats, and there were games for him there. Games?? He was so excited to go! It was so cute how much he and Gavin wanted to get out the door. Once we were there, we got in line to get our food. James got his hot dog and scarfed it down- was so proud of him for not getting distracted. He promptly wanted some of the cake I made- good choice, buddy. After he was done with that, he knew it was time for GAMES! 

James first tried to join in a game where you throw a ball and it splashed a water balloon on someone's head. Seeing as how balls were flying and James, Gavin, and Jack don't do well with lines and flying balls, we found a more age-appropriate game. It was right by the bubbles, so Gavin and Jack went promptly over there. The game James wanted, however, was a race game. They had a tube of water on one side and at the end there was an empty tube. In the tube of water were sponge balls- you soaked up the water, ran to the empty tube, wrung the water out of the sponge ball, and ran back for the next person to run over. Pretty simple. Well, for James, he wouldn't really listen to me about what he was supposed to be doing. He kind of got it. I was trying to not be a hovering mom and walked over to the bubbles to watch from a distance, sure he would catch on. 

Brad and I were talking by the bubbles (and keeping bubble sticks out of Jack's mouth- because that is obviously how you blow bubbles) when we both looked to where James was playing. James had tried to get a sponge ball- I'm not sure if he had cut in line, or if there wasn't any for him, but another little boy was full on yelling at him and making very angry gestures at James. A little girl, one of James' friends, was watching the little boy, and started yelling and gesturing meanly to James as well. James was cowering back, baffled as to why his peers were being so angry and mean. James has such a sweet and sensitive spirit- he was so confused. They scared him so much, he ran over to the nearest (skinny) tree and tried to hide behind it. Upon seeing this, Brad yelled out, "Seriously?!?!". I walked over to James, opening my arms up to my confused little boy. Once in my arms, he started trembling and sobbing. He was so hurt and scared inside. It broke my heart. I wanted nothing more than to go over to that little boy and tell him it was not okay to talk to others that way, but I just couldn't. I was barely holding it together. My emotions were already on high from other things that day, that it was all I could do to hold my James, gather our stuff, and walk as fast as possible to our car. My heart hurt so much for him. Brad brought the other two behind us, both heart broken in their own way that we had to leave while they were having fun. Since a trip to Target was already planned, we told them we would go buy some sidewalk chalk and bubbles of our own and go have fun at home. They also got extra time in the toy aisles :)

This was our first experience with blatant meanness. I don't blame the kid- he's learning his emotions and it's hard to convey what you're feeling in the proper way all the time. It was still so hard to watch. What got me the most was the parents standing right there and doing nothing. I am not one to just watch a kid be mean to another kid- especially when you are in a situation where you know the kids involved and it's not some stranger's problem. There was only one leader there and she did the best she could, but she was juggling the whole thing by herself. I know there will be more and worse situations like this. I just hate that it has to happen. I hate that the world is so ugly and mean and I can't protect my children forever. They need to learn that there are mean people out there- but that doesn't mean they have to be. I was so proud of James- he was sad, he cried, and he bounced back. I love the resilience of kids and I hope we can protect and educate him the best we can. 

"Monster" Unleashed

Today will mark the day that Jack graduated into the full-fledged stage of terrible twos. Oh. Boy. He doesn't turn two until October, but who wants to wait that long???

It happened around the same time for James, a few months before turning two. It was hard. Gavin's literally happened on his birthday. That was harder. Gavin is at least pulling out of his two-ness, but it is still over-lapping! Ooooh... *deeeeeep breaths*

What marks today the special day? Two instances:

The boys were upstairs while I was downstairs and I decided I might as well join them and finish getting ready. I found them all on our bed and Jack holding the kids toothpaste and our toothpaste. Not something I really want all over my bed. Or anywhere. I went to take them from him- I had to wrestle it out of his hands. Talk about death grip! This then triggered a SCREAM fest, where he followed me, screaming, "MINE! MINE! MIIIIIIIINE!!!!". I put it back in the drawer, he opened it, got them both out, happiness ensued. Fine, if he was going to stay in the bathroom with me, fine. Nope. He had to wander back out. Maybe I should be more relaxed but this kid has a knack for trouble, so I wrestled it away from him and put them on the counter, far out of reach. I really got him screaming at me this time- like five minutes! I literally had to put him in his crib to cool off. Sure enough, about two minutes later, the screaming stopped. Then about a minute later I hear, "Mama?... Dada?... Nana?....... Mama!" Ok, dude, you are permitted to join us! Holy cow, so not like him. Thank you, twos.

Later on in the day, James asked if they could watch me play Star Wars on the Wii. I said sure, they were being good and it was hot out so why not kill some time that way. At one point, I had to fly across something so I showed them how R2D2 can fly in the game. They thought this was so cool! Jack was sooo happy to see R2D2 on the TV, he kept saying his name over and over. Once I was done, I went back to whatever character I had before. Jack started screaming and hitting the TV/dresser TV stand, coming up to me and hitting the pillow on my lap, screaming, "D2! D2! D2!" Then Gavin got the mini toy out of R2D2 and Jack chased him all over the house, screaming at him to give him that toy (notice how much I'm using the word "screaming"...). He got it, was happy, then needed the big version of R2D2 as well. More screaming. I got him C3PO and that made him much happier. Freak. Outs. Galore. 

Realizing this makes it a tad easier. Sure easier to laugh and deal with when you realize it's just him being almost two. I can do this, I can do this...

Story Time

Our new night time habit is James needing story time by himself. Story time as in, we make up stories together. Usually it's a swapping sort of thing. I really love it. It makes me realize how unimaginative I can be, and makes me work harder to make it exciting for him. Here are a few we've had-

-Minka, the Super Cheetah. She is a small cheetah with a heart of gold and the ability to fly and save all her animal friends in need.
- Addie, the Super Bear. A black bear who knows how to fight off the bad guys.
- Super James, with all his super pals- Super Gavin, Super Jack, Super Mommy, Super Daddy, and others. We rescue our fellow family members from endless villains.

There have been others, but those are the highlights. Tonight's was especially awesome. I read him "Five Little Monkeys" and he started talking about how you should hide from crocodiles so they don't snap you up. I asked if he'd be like the little monkey and hide in the leaves and he said no, he'd hide in the bushes. Or the branches. Or the rocks. Or the heavy rocks. And then he introduced a new character... the good dragon would protect him on the rocks. Alright! We're going there now. Then the good dragon had to fight the bad dragon (and of course we had to go over all the colors his scales, horns, claws,and  tail would be). The bad dragon got away so we introduced a good White witch who casts a tracking spell over water to go find him. Once they find the bad dragon (after some more obstacles), bad knights appear! The good knight disappeared and then came back with his armor on to make him strong enough. And then, we came full circle, and a monkey showed up to throw a banana on the bad knight's helmet. Just to be clear, this was mostly James story. I had very little to do with it. He thought he was so funny to bring the monkey back (and it really was). The conversation in the story

Bad knight: Hey! I have a banana on my helmet! Who threw that??
Monkey: It was me! The monkey!
Bad knight: There is a banana on my helmet- that is so yuuuuuuck! Why did you do that?
Monkey: Because you are bad!

Priceless.

Lately

Blogging has been on the low part of my to-do list. But this blog really shouldn't be left behind. Hello, wonderful memories of the kids!

James- well, he has apparently morphed into a teenager lately. Super fun. But he still remains our sweetheart... just trying to figure out these different things he's feeling. It's hard, but we're trying to work through it. His latest thing is to tell me that "Gavin is breaking my heart." Too cute!

Gavin- I think he is finally pulling out of his terrible two's! Hallelujah! I know it'll still be rough, but I know it'll still be better. He is still our little ham, and doing far too many funny and sweet things to remember (another reason to post more!)

Jack- man, can this kid talk now!! He knows all his letters. It's incredible! He's trying more and more words and is learning more every day. It's such a joy to watch him absorb things. His favorite song to sing right now is "The Itsy-Bitsy Spider". Over and over... and over and over...