"I've picked the wrong career, Mr. Graff," I say to my sweet husband.
"Wife and mother?"
"Yes."
"What other career would you pick?"
"I think I'd be better at just about anything else."
Then, I look at these pictures and remember how proud I am of my little boys. How wonderful they are. How blessed I am to be their mother.
Joe is still eating all his food by tube. He fell asleep in the middle of his meal here. He wants so much to be going and doing that we have to drag the pole around and follow him while he eats. Unless, of course, he falls asleep.
My boys have an endless fascination with the sock box. It's like dress up, but better.
He looks so much like a little boy now!
Joe loves dirty laundry. The dirtier, the better. Dirty towels are his speciality.
Ah! He found a Rae shirt. Stink it up, kiddo!
To be a water gun owner who wears boots and swim trunks requires sophistication.
Work it, Rae. On the catwalk, yeah, the catwalk.
Joe falls asleep most readily these days in Mr. Graff's arms while he is reading.
And Rae has decided that showering happens in the closet.
He goes in, partially shuts the door, and yells out, "I showering, Mom! I showering!"
We bought a tablet for our recent road trip. Joe found a new technique.
We call this "Tropical Storm Raeford". Fortunately, this storm blew itself out.
What else can I tell you?
Rae is learning to try new foods. We've learned that he needs to have choices and rewards. And that the better the reward, the quicker the compliance. So, it works to figure out what he really wants and attach a behavior that we really want with it. ("Oh, you want juice? Well you can have juice if…") He gets what he wants, we get what we want and life is better. Rae has tried a lot of new foods and we are very proud of him. We tell him he just needs to "taste" or "try" something and Rae usually insists on being fed baby bird style (Rae says he needs help, so Mom cuts up food and spoons it into his mouth.). He's learned he likes some new things.
Also, Rae is out of diapers! He potty trained earlier this year, but now Rae is out of night diapers, too. Hot diggity.
Joe is pulling himself to stand---he works hard on this daily. Mr. Graff has even caught him trying to stand without support. Walking, here we come! His increased mobility means that Joe and Rae are playing together more and more. [Joe even got his first time-out for hitting Rae with a wooden train track a few weeks ago. Joe didn't understand the time out thing, but Rae did and it made him feel better.]
Even though I have vague daydreams of being a Chinese linguist or truck driver, I know I have the right career. And good thing, too, because I'm about to get promoted! Baby #3 is more than half done.
