The Dead Caterpillar

Today as we were climbing into the car to go to playgroup, I saw a fuzzy caterpillar. We saw an identical one on a walk a few days earlier and have been looking for it every time we go past the spot--"Where is the caterpillar?"--so I pointed it out to my oldest. He bent over to look at it and then--WHAM--stepped on it. Guts squirted out one end (interestingly they were the same color as the caterpillar). I said, "Well, the caterpillar is dead," and my little guy said, "It's not moving. Is it asleep?" He brought up the caterpillar again while driving to the part and when we parked the car after our errands (luckily we were not in the same spot, so I didn't have dead dried caterpillar to worry about).

I'm not worried that the little guy is going to become some violent person: his "Mama you're beautiful" and "Mama, are you happy?" are stronger than the one-time murder of a butterfly-to-be. But I was surprised by his behavior with the caterpillar facination from earlier.

Sitting or falling?

The littlest one loves tummy time and can roll from tummy to back and back to tummy, but he isn't much interested in sitting. A little while each day, I sit him between my legs and let him go at his toys in a different way. He likes it, but has no balance. (No worries, he is only 5 months old.) I tried to have him sit on his own--just to catch a picture. No luck. This is what I came up with. The funny thing is that when I started pressing the button he was sitting.

I really don't want to hurry his growing up--he is already too big--but it is fun to see what he can do.

Underwear celebration

We switched to cloth diapers--we are still trying to work out the kinks--but two days in them made my big boy and me both ready to try potty training. (Hey, if I'm cleaning up the poop anyway, shouldn't we at least be progressing toward something?!) So here is the celebration of trainers and underwear. Some days are better than others. But, we're working on it.

The Children's Museum

The Children's Museum here has a free afternoon once a month. This month it coincided with Spring Break, so we went as a family. It was great--they had Irish dancers, and all of the regular toys. Or favorites are the food (with kitchen, grocery store, and delivery truck) and the trains.

The Crib

Little did I know that our big boy was going to become entranced with the crib three weeks after his little brother started sleeping in there full time. One day, after changing diaoers, the big boy climbed into the crib. "Look, mama," he said. From that point on nothing was safe. He climbs in, pulls a blanket over himself, grabs a pacifier (usually the one sitting in the crib) and Marron the puppy (his brother's puppy), and smiles. If he gets in and I'm not aware of it, I'll hear a sweet voice call out, "Mama, I'm stuck," or "Help me, Mama, I'm done."

Last week this came to a head when 20 minutes after nap time started, everything was quiet. I pulled out the book I'm reading--an interesting book on mesmerism--and sat at the table. I assumed both boys were asleep (I knew the youngest was.) Ten minutes later, the youngest starts screaming. I rush in and his older brother smiles at me from the crib where he is tummy-down, kicking his feet up: "I scared him," he explains. The youngest had a right to be scared: his brother had unswaddled him, taken the pacifier, woken him up, and dragged him out of his spot in the crib. Needless to say naptime was over for the day.

When we put the boys down for bed that night, my husband told the oldest not to climb in the crib. When I checked on the before going to bed myself, this is what I saw.

We smiled, took a picture, and then carefully put the boys back in their proper sleeping places.

Happy 5th Anniversary!

This week we celebrate our 5th anniversary. It is crazy to think that 5 years ago at this time we were looking forward to a temple wedding. My husband was sleeping in my little brother's room at my parents' house because our apartment was "too lonely" with only him there. Now we are in apartment #5 (if you count the apartment in Spain); the only furniture that still exists are file cabinets, book shelves, and the trunk my parents gave me after my mission; and our family has doubled in number. What a wonderful five years!

Trains

My sister-in-law graciously sent us some GeoTrax train sets that her son had outgrown and our oldest is having a ball. He discovered Thomas the Tank Engine a few weeks before Christmas, and had been driving a circus train (sent by my younger sister) around as Thomas. Now we have multiple Thomases and even Jack the Front Loader. In the morning and throughout the day, he will ask to play "tracks." We put them together and he drives the trains around. Sometimes he uses the remote control. Sometimes not. His toy cars have also become part of the set. They are hauled around and help Jack the Front Loader as he works with wood blocks.