And Then There's That...

My kids are swinging pendulums of late...

One minute they are downright adorable, sweet, hilarious, and full of belly laughs.

The next they are loud, whiny, throwing a tantrum or knocking someone in the head.

What is with the extremes, I say?

What happened to the beginning of the summer when they were giddy about filling up the wading pool, stripping down and having a Popsicle or twelve?

On the plus side, at least the pendulum is actually swinging and not just hanging there in perma-naughty mode, right?

So, let me share with you some of the favorite sweet-isms of late...

This all goes back to my in-depth scientific knowledge that if you highlight and focus on the good long enough, it's bound to multiply and replenish the earth with more good.  Right?  RIGHT??!  :)

Dax is in love with Coop.  In LOVE with him.  Lately when he goes out in the backyard to play, he joins his best canine friend beneath the porch.  For long spans of time.  I'll come out to check on him every ten minutes or so and I'll say, "Dax, where are you?"  And he responds from beneath my feet, "Are ya pwayin' wif Cooper?" or "Are ya in da tunnel wif Coop?"  I smile like a lunatic.

Kaelster has recently started to ask, "Are ya sure?"  He says it all the time and sometimes it makes sense  and other times it is hilariously used out of context.  Like, tonight, I said, "Do you want white milk or chocolate milk?"  And he said, "Chocolate.  Are ya sure?" I responded like one of those dang Disney vultures, "I don't know, are YOU sure?"  See, kids quirks can quickly rub off on you.  They're tricky like that.

Ace has a pretty sweet little mug.  

To go along with a pretty sweet little new trick.  In fact, if you promise to ignore my annoying baby-talk mama voice, I might even share a little video of Acer's trick.  Here he is sharing his in depth dinosaur knowledge.  If I do say so, myself, that is one of the cutest little things I have ever seen.  

Have I mentioned the big boys like their boots?  Have I told you that we often have on our shorts, shirts and boots?  Have I shared with you the fact that boots, while adored, are at times, difficult to put on.  Here comes a recount of our many times a day scripted conversation...

Me:  "OK, Let's go.  Choose your shoes."

Kael & Dax:  "I punna boots on?"

Me:  "Sure, bring me your boots."

Kael & Dax:  "Push... Push...." Grunt.... (More pretend and imaginary pushing whilst I really do the work and then, "Dere, Me Got It."  Every.Single.Time.  

It has morphed into a little phrase Ry and I use as we do menial tasks like, dishes, take out the trash, etc.     It's a keeper.  Try it.  You'll like it.

Dax has mastered the "Happy Birthday Song".  So much so, in fact, that he has been singing to all our relatives, his dog, and now he's moved on to random objects he sees around the house, "Happy Birf-day to Monkey"  it is endearing.  Especially since his voice is a wee bit horse from long hours of summer play.  Well, that and yelling "Ring a Round a Rosies" a few too many times.

Kael is such an obvious big brother and he feels the need to correct the errant ways of his little bros.  He is a huge boss hog lately.  The littles will sit in their carseats and Dax will comment aloud on something he sees out the window, like, "Deres a big yewow tractor" to which Kaelster will rebut, "NO, Daxi!  Not yewow... it's orange."  Bossy little thing... where would he learn to do that? :)  He'll also throw out random instructions like, "Daxi, Drink ya juice".  Little task master cracks us up.  Whaddya do.  And to clarify what the what these pics are all about... Big K slipped on the top rung of the play set ladder and bashed his face on the platform before tumbling to the ground.  This is his second legit black eye at the ripe old age of two.  We may be in for it.

I guess I'll cap this little positive mojo session off by sharing one of my favorite little tricks the littles learned from Daddy-o.  Dad's are pretty spectacular at teaching useless little games like the name song, right?  You know the one.  It's like the world's greatest litmus test for selecting a kid's name.  So the littles have totally mastered it thanks to Daddy.  And I hear all day long....

"Grampa Grampa bo Bampa...

And then they have personalized it so it has morphed into something like this,

"Tomane-o... me mi mo mano... Grampa."

Sometimes they sing it deep and throaty and sometimes they sing it fast and funny.

They think of every relative and acquaintance they know to keep it going and they even use my silly old Uncles names but they use their nicknames, not their real names... so here are my two two-year-olds singing the name song about "Harvey" and "Tink".  Now that's rich.

And this one?  Well he thinks he's one of the big boys.  He's totally down with soaring great heights in a game of Super Man.  He'll jump into a dog pile and squeal with the rest of the wild yay-hoos. He can climb stairs and he's on the verge of walking and holy crap, I'm soon gonna be triple teamed when RyGar is away.  At which point... you'll find me on the far, far edge of the pendulum swing.... stuck, in an extreme panic mode from a little bit of this and a little bit of that.  

Please pack a defibrillator.

Thank you.