Max's Nap: In Memorium

2003-2008

Naptime, such a good time.
Time for Max to rest
but more importantly,
for mom to sleep.
To sleep, perchance to dream
ah there's the rub.
No more dreaming, no more sleeping!
Max is done.
But, Ben has only begun...

(Written off the top of my sleepy head on this the third week in a row Max has not napped in the afternoon of 2008. )

Happy Birthday JB!

JB's birthday was Sunday. I made him a carrot cake from scratch with Max's help -- he was sad when it was time to pour the batter into the pans because he was still stirring. "Sad" is a bad word -- he threw a fit. But the cake and Max ended up OK.
Max also ended up being so excited about JB's birthday that he told a few people about it at church, and when we were at JB's parents for dinner he greeted everyone at the door with, "It's my daddy's birthday!"

One present that was fun to make and give was the boys' footprints on a tile. I went to Color Me Mine with them. I have very few painting/artistic skills but I knew I wanted to have the boys make their daddy something. I ended up having the studio tech help me paint their feet and we pressed it down onto the tile. It took a few tries with Ben because he kept wiggling. The paint got all over my pants. It's a fat footprint. I love baby fat feet. Max's footprint looks huge. He's three but it looks like an 8-year-old stepped on that tile. I thought it would have been funny if I would have done it too, but a bigger tile would have cost more. I'm a size nine, 9 1/2 in most shoes but 10 in a running shoe. Wouldn't that be funny though, with "Mary, August 2008" written underneath?

But enough about me. Happy birthday lover! I also can't believe it was five years ago this weekend we got engaged. Best thing I ever did was say yes.

Climbers

The boys love their daddy! When JB came back from St George last week they piled onto him.

Ben is really trying to keep up with Max. I think he's climbing and pulling himself up before Max did. Ben turned 8 months old this week, and to celebrate, he pulled himself on top of Max's birthday suitcase.He's so proud of himself! By the way Max promptly also climbed onto it too to show he was also very skilled.

Max walked at 15 months. I worry Ben may walk sooner. Once they walk, they run, and there's no stopping them.

Congrats Joe!

My little brother Joe graduated last night from the Utah College of Massage Therapy. I took Ben with me but because of the later hour (and because of his new no nap policy) I had Max stay home with JB to go to bed early. Here's my brother James trying to get Ben to smile at him from my brother Michael's shoulders.

He turned and gave him a big grin.

Joe stands out among his fellow graduates in height and accomplishments (he got some extra awards, aw shucks).
Here are Michael, his wife Bethany, Joe, Ben, me and James posing with a whole bunch of the door. Hey, at least the stranger was nice to take the picture for us.
Bethany tickles Ben to get him to smile. Joe likes to do funny faces for the camera.

They all went to eat sushi afterward but I had to go to bed. Funny boys!

Naptime conversations

What's with Max turning three and stopping naps? Up until last week, most days he would sleep up to two hours in the afternoons. I have Ben's schedule set so he sleeps at that same time too, and therefore so do I. Heaven. But, maybe it's the cold Max has, maybe the fact that he's now three, but the most he's slept in the afternoon is 20 minutes. I've ended up taking him into bed with me once or twice so he won't wake up Ben. Overheard:

"Mommy, can I play with the radio?"

Me, mumbling with my eyes closed, "No, it's nap time now. Lay down."

Max, whispering: "I need a bandaid."

Me: "Still nap time. Close your eyes."

Max: "a b c D EE FFFF GGGGG!"

Me: "Be qui....zzzzzzzz"

My favorite moment though, is when he wiggled closer and said "Mommy, that's Jesus in that picture on the wall." I couldn't really shush him for that, now could I?

I think I'll still put him down at the same time every afternoon, but if he doesn't sleep it will have to be called quiet time from now on. Same rules of staying in bed apply. I need it!

Potty-training casualty count

The count from today's adventures in potty-training:

1 pair of jammies
4 pairs of underwear
3 pairs of shorts
3 shirts
2 sheets
1 couch cushion
1 car seat
1 kitchen floor

I'm still waiting for the "priceless." The weird thing is, he did use the potty four times today by himself. The non-potty times were for pooping (twice ) and not even trying to make it to the toilet in time for peeing (twice).

Colds

See Ben's scraped nose? He's such a trooper though. At dinner Max was making him laugh like crazy. For fun we went to Shivers, where kids can eat their meal on a train. Max didn't want to eat, just play. When I said it was time to go, he said, "Can you leave me here?"

Doesn't Ben look so content? He's growing out of his seat but it's so convenient. I just love chubby thighs.

Anyway we all have itchy runny noses now. Why do colds come in the summer?