Same old

So what is new? Why nothing. In fact lately my days are all very much the same. I get up at pretty much the same time, I feed Sawyer at pretty much the same times, I put Will down for a nap at the same time, and I go to bed at the same time. Without having to worry about classes the days all tend to run into one another. Sometimes I truly can't remember what day of the week it is--and don't even bother asking me the date because I don't know. I must say that my evenings are a lot less stressful when I don't have any particular agenda that I have to follow the next day...and no homework that I have to get done before going to bed!

I put Will down for a nap today and he stayed up there for about 2 1/2 hours talking to himself. Today he was saying "Mommy, come back!" and "Grandma Dickerson!" and "Uncle Kyle" and "snow hat" over and over. (He wore a knit cap outside the other day because Bryce had a work BBQ and the high temp was only 57--and he has been wearing it ever since--including to bed last night.) The other day he lasted 3 1/2 hours before I gave up and got him out. He wasn't crying or anything...he just talks to himself. Today, however, I heard some noises and next thing I know Will walks into the family room looking triumphant and very pleased with himself. He has never gotten out of his crib by himself before. He has gotten himself into his crib, but never out. I have a feeling my peaceful afternoons are over. Will woke up at about 5 a.m. this morning yelling "I'm hungry!" which wasn't all that surprising since he didn't eat anything yesterday. I just wish he would decide he was hungry at some normal hour of the day.

A few weekends ago we drove to Idaho to make sure that Megan made it up there without her new old car breaking down. We stopped at Craters of the Moon on the way back and Will had a great time. If you've never heard of it Craters of the Moon is a park where a bunch of old volcanoes have spewed lava all over. There are a bunch of tunnels and caves and black lava as far as you can see. Will fell asleep on the way there and when he woke up we told him we were on the moon and I think he really thought we were. He really liked going in the cave and is still talking about "spelunking" on the moon.

The other night I was taking Will upstairs to bed and he was resisting. As we got closer to the stairs he turned around and shouted over my shoulder "See you later Sawyer!" He is such a funny kid. He is at that stage where he repeats EVERYTHING he hears. A few weeks ago after church he took off out the door and into the parking lot when someone went out. I chased him down and told him that he couldn't go in the parking lot by himself because he might get hurt and mommy would be very sad. Just then an older lady from the Relief Society presidency came over and was talking to me and Will kept pulling on her dress and saying "Mommy's sad!" over and over. So the R.S. presidency probably thinks I am severely depressed or something!

My little sister Mollie watched the boys last weekend while Bryce and I went to a movie and she told me that at one point in the evening she told Will that he was silly. Will walked over to her and said "Noo, I'm awfully cute!" The other day I was tossing him a baseball and he was trying unsuccessfully to hit it and after every miss he would announce "Almost! Good job kiddo!" It is nice to know he has good self-esteem. :-)

Sawyer started smiling a couple weeks ago, but his smiles are few and far between. Sometimes when he is awake and happy he will be pretty smiley for about 5 minutes. He is a much more serious kid than Will ever was. He is also a much calmer child than Will ever was. He is a very sweet baby. It will be interesting to see how they interact as they get older. I've already predicted that Sawyer will be my child saying "Will, Mommy told us not to do that!" Sawyer had his 2 month check-up the other day. He had a little bit of a fever but they went ahead and gave him his vaccines anyways. He got 6 of them poor guy! He weighed in at 10 lbs 5 oz. He moved up from the 2nd percentile to the 16th percentile in weight.

Will loves to play with other kids, but unfortunately he doesn't get to all that often. After church on Sunday we were chatting with some friends in the hall who have a little girl who is about a year older than Will. Will was talking to her and telling her all about the quarterback, receiver, and referees in football (Bryce has been teaching him). Then we heard him saying "You want to go to a baseball game Mari?"...only 2 and already asking the girls out.

That's about all the fun I can think of from our house. I've taken to watching the Food Network in the afternoon while cleaning up the house. I wish I had the time, money, equipment, and talent to make fancy, delicious food-- I will settle for watching other people do it I guess.

Sigh

The picture is of Will running around in the Great Salt Lake at Antelope Island. He was having a grand time even though the place was swarming with sand flea things. Yuck.

The boys are both asleep at the moment which is wonderful and is becoming a rare event because Sawyer is starting to be awake more and more during the day. Unfortunately this leads to more and more run-ins between Will and Sawyer. When Sawyer was just sleeping all day he really didn't need much attention, which of course means more attention for Will. But now Sawyer wants attention more frequently and Will wants attention all the time leading to some friction. Yesterday I was sitting on the floor and Sawyer was laying in front of me kicking his legs and swinging his arms and just generally being a good baby. Will came over and looked at him for a second and then walked away and then ran back and kicked Sawyer in the head like he was trying to make a field goal. Sigh. Today I put Sawyer in his playpen so I could take a shower, naively thinking Will would watch Cars and leave him alone. Just as I got the shampoo in my hair I heard Sawyer screaming hysterically so I jumped out of the shower and ran into the bedroom only to see Will in the play pen jumping on Sawyer. Double sigh. Some days I think it will be seriously amazing if Sawyer grows up without permanent injury. I really don't know how to impress upon Will that he CANNOT hurt Sawyer. I've tried the time-outs (both in his highchair and his crib), giving Will extra attention, trying to convince Will that he is my special helper, and a whole lot of finger shaking and yelling, but I don't think I'm getting through to him. I gave him a good talking to after the kicking incident and tried to emphasize that Mommy and Daddy love Will AND Mommy and Daddy love Sawyer so that he wouldn't just feel like Mommy only loves Sawyer now and that is why he is always getting in trouble. Later that evening I heard Will talking to himself repeating "Mommy and Daddy love Will." It makes me sad to think that he is feeling insecure and displaced and jealous, but it also makes me really angry to see him kicking, poking, pinching, jumping on, and spitting on (yes spitting!) poor little Sawyer all while laughing hysterically like some little sadistic (yet still adorable) demon-child. Sigh.

Maybe there is hope afterall though...yesterday Will was once again getting right in Sawyer's face and shrieking and laughing and Sawyer looked at him and gave his first all-out smile. Of course, that first cute smile would be bestowed upon the one family member who has repeatedly attempted to accelerate his return trip out of this world.

So someday they'll be friends right?

Will is talking up a storm lately. He repeats everything he hears which makes you suddenly realize that a lot of what you say sounds terrible coming out of a 2 year-old's mouth. For instance I said that something was "stupid" (not even a person, just something!) and now everything is "stupid." Or I told Will his diaper was "nasty" and now everything that's not stupid is "nasty"--including most of what I give him to eat. Sometimes he says things that are pretty amusing. I put him in the shower with me on Monday and when we got out he went strutting out of the bathroom naked and said "Hm. Nice and Clean!" Later that day we went grocery shopping at Macey's and I let Will pick out a treat when we paid. He had eaten the whole thing by the time we got home and as I got him out of the car I said "Will, did you say thank you for your candy?" He looked at me and said "Thank you Wal-Mart!"...I said "Umm..no, that's not what I meant" and he thought for a second and then said "Thank you Macey's!" I asked him where he lived the other day (trying to get him to say Provo, Utah) and he looked over and said "Wal-Mart!" I said "Noooo" and asked again and this time he answered "Church!" So that pretty much sums up our life right now. Wal-Mart and Church.

America's Next Top Models

My brother Michael was in town for our family reunion so I had him take some pictures of the boys. Will was hamming it up, but Sawyer didn't appreciate being woken up and was a little more reluctant to have his picture taken. I told Will to smile for the camera and he leaned against the column and gave his best super model look. When I try to take his picture he always just tries to grab the camera so it was funny to see him posing. I will add more later, but at the moment I'm typing 1-handed while holding Sawyer so it is taking forever.