Milestone Minutiae

Luke's been sick, so when he wakes up at night he screams (just for a little bit). Normally, he'll just be awake and root around to nurse, or just change position. Last night just after nursing him he was lying beside me asleep. A few minutes later, he started screaming. He crawled out from under the blanket and over into the co-sleeper, where he promptly stopped screaming and was asleep. This is not the first time he's crawled away from me to go sleep out in the co-sleeper.

Tonight I asked Emmett if he'd like a "B..A..T..H" after dinner. When I looked over at Luke, he was signing "bath" furiously. And then Emmett said, "He can spell in sign language!" To be fair, Emmett has been telling Luke that "B..A..T..H" is bath, so he may have just learned it from his brother.

Today Luke was gathering imaginary items from the floor and handing them to David.

I'm so glad we have those round bowls. The big round bowls. They're good for creating whirlpools when I play in the sink. Emmett

Emmett asks, "Dad, when I'm your age, how old will you be?" David replies, "Well, right now you are 4, and I'm 34, so in thirty years you will be 34 and I'll be 64." Helpfully, I pointed out that 64 is about how old Grandpa is. Emmett asks, "When I'm as old as dad, how old will Grandpa be?" I answered "He'll be 94. That's about as old as Grandma Jo." Emmett asks, "When I'm as old as Grandpa, how old will Grandpa be?" Dodging the obvious lesson in mortality, I answered "124." Emmett laughed. "A hundred and twenty four, that's like, dead !" And with that, I left the table and came to the computer to blog it.

Somehow this morning, Luke got his hands on a medium-sized pair of scissors. He was walking towards me when I discovered it, and upon seeing my face he instantly turned around. He knew he wasn't supposed to have scissors. Then, of course, he toddled away in his closest approximation of a run, trying to extend his time with the treasure (and no, he wasn't holding the scissors point down). Fortunately, he's not very fast and I was able to quickly bring his fun to an end.

Tonight after I finished snuggling and said goodnight to Emmett, he said, "I thought of someone to snuggle with all night long. My teddy!"

On November 1st, we went for a walk out front. At first it was fine, but after a little while Luke kept trying to head up to people's front doors. He certainly learned something on Halloween! Emmett, of course, has been eating a lot of candy. But he's been sharing a lot, too. He frequently offers me candy from his bag. Today I realized he's been sharing with Luke, too. It's not just the chocolate stained sweatshirt and baby face, today Luke didn't even want dinner. Oops.

Emmett and Luke played in their monster jumpers a few times before Halloween. When Emmett wore his costume, Luke always wanted his too. Emmett likes to roar at people, because he's a scary monster, so Luke learned to roar too. It was very cute on Halloween - Emmett roared at people, and Luke roared too. Sometimes he roared at people, sometimes at empty space.

Halloween was lots of fun. Luke was tired and I thought we might stay home, but he was so excited that he ran along with the other kids. He ran by himself all the way to the park down the street. It took him a while before he started following the other kids up to houses. At first, Luke would just go halfway, then he got onto a porch or two, then he finally went to the doors and got candy. He had candy in his hands for a few minutes, then I noticed that he'd gnawed through a wrapper and there was chocolate on his face. Luke likes Halloween. Emmett had a great time as usual. It was a pretty cold night, but Emmett didn't even wear his sweatshirt! The monster jumpers are warm- ish , but don't have sleeves. My mom carried his sweatshirt, but Emmett refused it at every offer. Maybe he kept warm scampering from house to house. It's fun to watch him run up to houses with the other kids. At a few houses he got two candies, "One for my little brother Luke!&q

Sometimes Luke resists getting into his car seat. I usually try to distract him with a song or a toy (Emmett helps a lot here, too). When he's really mad, he'll throw the toy right out of his seat while looking you in the eye. If he's in your arms while he's mad (if, for example, you're picking him up so he'll stop mauling Jenny), he swings his arms around wildly, hitting you all over your face and head. Finally, this morning we were visiting Spanish school. I had to take a toy away from him, so he sat down on the floor and threw his head forward, banging it on the floor. This wouldn't be a big deal at our house, but Spanish school is in a building with Berber carpet and no carpet pad. He had a red spot on his forehead for a few minutes.