Being A Mom

Is Awesome. Here are a few reasons why I love it so much:

1. Bodily functions- As if it wasn't enough fun to monitor (and discuss over dinner) the bowel movements of two little ones, now Charlie finds them fascinating to discuss. Whenever I take his socks off, he attacks the fuzzies in his toes. For some reason he tries to eat them. He knows he's not supposed to, so he tries to do it as quickly as possible. Today, when I took off his socks he went for the fuzzies, then looked at me and said," no eat 'em fuzzies? No eat 'em poopies?" The frightening thing here is that despite knowing that fuzzies are not food, he still consumes them. Heaven help us all if poopies get thrown in the mix.
  Yesterday he tooted and then said, "kids do toots in bums" thank you for clarifying that son. And tonight when I thought he was in bed asleep, he yelled, "Mommy. I made toot!" Ok bud. "Mom, I made toot in my bum!" Love it.

2. Laughter- Charlie was playing in the tub, and I was bathing Stella. She splashed and scared herself so she flailed those chubby little arms and legs. It made me laugh, then she laughed. Real belly laugh. So I started fake laughing, which would make her laugh. Pretty soon, I hear Charlie fake laughing his head off from his bedroom.This trick has also been working for me mid-tantrum. I use it sparingly, but it's like magic.

3. Favorites- Charlie is obsessed with favorites right now. Every item of clothing we put on is his favorite, or not his favorite. "favorite jammies." "not favorite blankie". A few days ago Charlie was sitting on the couch with his dad. He looked up at him and said, "Daddy, best friend ever!" He has since told his Nana and me that we are also his best friends-ever. Tonight he couldn't sleep, so I went in and sat down by his bed. Whenever he is going to bed he does this funny laugh. When you cover him up with his blankie or start singing, "I God," the only song allowed in the house, he laughs his head off. Even in his sleep in the middle of the night. But I digress. So I am sitting with him, his hand is twisted into my hair and he drags his sleepy head up and says groggily, "mommy, best friend ever." then kisses my cheek and lays back down. Then he drags himself up again and bumps his head into mine, whispers "head butt" then lays down and goes to sleep.
A few clarifications-his dad taught him the head butt and "I God" is actually "I am a Child of God." He knows every word to all three verses, but only sings it if you sing and then stop so he can fill in words. His solo version of the song sounds like this, "I God, t'day, oh'day" and that's it. And he owns it.

4. Even grumpiness is often hilarious- If you make Charlie unhappy, he insists that whatever you are doing is "not a good place" or says "that's not nice" I wish I could copy the intonation here, because it's a hoot. Today he shook his head and said, "mom. You are kiwin (killin') me"

5.  Amazing experiences with the general public-In a crowded restaurant at lunchtime he climbed up onto the back of the booth and out of the blue yelled, "Don't kill me mom!" He also refers to his car seat as a cage. When we go to the car in busy places like the Costco parking lot, he pleads and yells, "Don't put me in a cage. Don't wock me in a cage!" I close the door very quickly and put my head down.

A wonderful mommy moment: I was sitting on the couch feeding Stella her bottle and Charlie was next to me. Stella was holding my hand and smiling. I would say to Charlie, "guess what I love?" "what?" I'd say, "Your eyes." Then he'd give me the world's biggest fake smile and hug my arm tight then say, "wove it, eyes." and laugh. This continued with everything that I love about him. He never got tired of it and neither did I.