Sweet Peas

Purpose of this post: to remind myself that there is a silver lining to the hard times we've been having with our angry kiddo.

In the way that life with children constantly cycles between order and chaos, we seem to have passed a peak of baby brother violence (your insides would hurt if you saw the scratches, kicks, punches and head butts Ethan has issued to this little guy).  In between the assaults, we are seeing some bona fide sweetness.

For example, every morning when he wakes up Ethan checks to see if Sam and I are awake.  If not, he quietly shuts the door and entertains himself with legos until we wake up.  This morning Sam was sleeping but I was up (oh cruel world!), so Ethan quietly snuck up on the bed, kissed me and then kissed sleeping Sam and whispered "I love you". 

Melt My Heart.

Ethan is not pictured here because he is waiting patiently 

in the car for the rest of us to get ready.   

Maybe the Angry Birds is keeping him occupied?

Ethan thought Sam could use some toys while he waited for his meal.

 

 

Skillz

Ethan learns to write his name.

 Sam starts crawling and pulling up.  

[It will only be a matter of time before we find him standing at the lego table, mouth full of little plastic bricks.]

Autumnal Strolls with Samuel

Walking for hours with my baby on my back, 

surrounded by gorgeous golden sunshine and bright fall leaves.  

Kind of a nice way to spend the fall.

Hannukah 2012

 Lovely to share the holiday with new friends.

 

 

Fall Sampler

1. Everyone loves Nana.

 

2. This is where I took care of all 4 boys by myself.  They played great!

3. Painting.  Ethan is so excited that Jeremy finally trusts him to use real, grown-up model paint, just like his papa.

 4. Daddy love.

5. Chaos, a cave and a camera.

Christmas Tree Harvest

Jody + Ethan

The week leading up to Christmas has been tumultous for Ethan.  The storm of feelings inside that kid must be wild indeed.  He's tired, a little sick, and totally out of sorts with me being home again after a few weeks back at school.  He is often begging to cuddle and kiss Sam, he loves to dance and bounce and make silly faces to make Sam laugh, and he whispers into his ear how much he loves him.  He then proceeds to kick, pinch and push baby bro to the ground.  We're also back at full force tantrums.  Recently Ethan has figured out some new ways to show his anger with us and is throwing these moves into his tantrums with abandon: swearing and slapping and spitting in our faces.  Nothing quite puts the peaceful parenting attitude to the test like that.

In the midst of this insanity, Ethan and I got out of the house for a little one-on-one time today.  We went "sledding" (scooting downhill over grass dusted with snow), shoveled (to protect the castle from invaders, of course), had a little sweet treat and clamored around our local giant metal spider.  For a brief moment, we had smiles, no whining and minimal kicking mama in the face.  I hope that filling his cup with love and fun and appreciation, and focused attention without little Sam sneaking into the picture, helps calm him for a time.