Levi update

Levi has become more talkative in the last few months.  He'll even put together simple sentences now and again, although most of his communication sounds like sweet broken English :)  A few of my favorites: his affirmative answer is usually a clear "Yes" or "alright" (Jake's used to be "uh-huh"), Levi will say "love you mommy!", "hold you" when he wants to be picked up, "naked Levi!" when he runs around naked after a bath...or after removing his diaper even when he's not supposed to! Yeah, the lesson that he needs to wear a onesie to bed every night was learned the hard way :) And let's not forget what he says most often - "Sorry." His mischievous side has caused him to get a lot of practice with that one :)

He's learning so many new things...despite that I feel guilty for not spending more time one on one with him.  He surprised me the other day by counting! I was counting something and started out, "One", and he jumped in, "Two!" - didn't know the kid could count! Thank you Mickey Mouse! Really, I tested him & he can count to 10 pretty consistently! Of course usually he doesn't want to perform for me, but when I offer him a "treat", he'll happily do it, then run to his seat at the table and wait for candy :)  He's also pretty good with his colors & we're working on shapes & he'll repeat the whole alphabet, but can't say it all on his own yet.

Ok, so something funny.  Can't remember if I've mentioned this before or not, but this boy is super paranoid about bugs...especially flies.  He runs from them & screams if they come near him or land on him. He's definitely my son. :)

And if I haven't talked about his eating habits lately...Levi is a social eater.  Basically he wants whatever we're eating.  Even if the same thing is on our plate, he'd prefer ours. He'll come up close and say, "Bite too, bite too." With his sweet little face, how can we resist? Oh yeah, and he likes to drink the milk in the bowl after the cereal is gone...even if it wasn't his cereal :) Jake & Daddy won't drink theirs, but I think that's the best kind of milk, all sugary.  Again, definitely my son.

The little things...

As I tucked Jake into bed tonight, I said prayer as usual.  (Jake usually says it at dinner time and I say it at bedtime.) My face was close to his & during the prayer he kissed me on the cheek.  Made me smile. Made my day.

Current bedtime routine for Jake includes reading a couple books, rocking in the rocking chair & singing a few songs while rubbing his tummy or back (usual favorites are Wheels on the Bus, You Are My Sunshine, Itsy Bitsy Spider & Mary Had a Little Lamb), then tucking him in and saying prayer.  A few nights ago I had a headache & went to bed early. Jake came into my room & brought some extra blankets to tuck me in, then HE said prayer (which included requesting that my head would feel better soon :)), gave me a kiss goodnight & told me he'd be downstairs if I needed him. :) I love him.

Jake's thoughts on church...

So, for the last couple of years, Jake has complained every time he realizes we're going to church. He always has a good time in primary once he's there and he LOVES going to school, so I can't figure out exactly why he doesn't want to go to primary every week.  Seriously, it brings on the whole body collapse with a whine & pout.  I've asked him why many times before, but he always says the same thing, "I just don't like it!"  So I pressed the issue yesterday and asked, "Why? Are there monsters there?" "No." "Are they mean to you?" "No.", "Well why don't you want to go?" And he exclaims, "I just don't like wearing my tie!" So I said, "Ok, I'll make you a deal.  You don't have to wear your tie tomorrow." And he perks right up and says, "Oh.  Well I don't like my shirt either." (Too bad, still had to wear the shirt :))

Then on the way to church this morning he told me he wanted to go to Levi's class & play with toys.  I told him, "No, you have to go to your own class."  He said, " But Levi gets to play with toys & I want to play with toys!" I replied, "Well his class is for babies." And Jake said, "Fine, then I'll just stop eating, so I'll stop growing and turn back into a baby." Although clever, too bad for him that it really doesn't work that way :)