Yesterday, Noah and I were walking home from the shops, and there was a man approaching us from the top of the road. The man was clearly disabled, and he was struggling to walk with his crutches. Noah looked at the man for some time, obviously deep in thought. As the man approached us, I was a bit worried about what Noah would say within earshot of this man. As he walked past us, Nu looked up at me and confidently said "You see mommy! Man also walking on sidewalk, not in the road. You see mommy?" "Yes possum, I see." Proud as hell.
On Monday night, Benjamin was approaching the plug sockets in the lounge. Something he is very interested in. "No Ben!" we all chorused. Benni looked at us, pointed at us and firmly said "NO!" then just stood there laughing for ages, his chin buried in his chest, clearly not coping with how funny he is. It was the first time I'd seen him understand humor.
Last night, Noah and Benjamin were on the couch, watching Baby Einstein. There was a mommy feeding a baby on the screen. I asked Noah "Nu, do you think mommy should have another baby? Another Ben?" he thought about it a while "Is Ben broken?" he asked. (he was traumatized when we threw the old couch out when we got new ones. We explained that when something is broken, you get a new one) "No, we're keeping Ben, I'm asking if we should have Ben AND another baby. So then we have three babies" "YES mommy. More babies for Noah. But mommy not throw Ben away. Ben not broken see?" Yes well.
Last week the boys were playing with a bouncing ball in the garden. Noah threw the ball at me and it hurt like hell. "Noah! Don't hurt mommy, that was sore" some time went by and he said softly, kind-of looking to the floor "But mommy... You must catch it"
A while ago we were having dinner and I couldn't get the skin off a piece of hake. I picked it up to peel it off with my hands and just carried on eating like that. "MOMMY! You mustn't eat with your hands. Use your knife and fork please." When your three year old out smarts you, and you actually have no comeback. That.
Yesterday Benjamin was chasing Noah around the house with a wooden spoon. I've never heard them laugh that hard for that long.
Whenever I say "no" to Ben, he sits on his bum and bursts out crying. Devastated. Sometimes lies there on the floor, sobbing. Then sees something shiny and walks off, as if nothing ever happened, face still wet from tears. Like a crazy person. His emotions are like those of a 9 month pregnant, hungry woman in mid summer.
Two nights ago Noah was throwing a fit (over tired) because we couldn't go to the park. It was 8pm and he obviously does not get that I don't want to go to the park at night. There were tears. There was a LOT of noise, for a long time. The only thing that works in that situation is to distract him. I shouted to Graeme "There's a dinosaur at the front door" and made a knocking noise on the wooden floor. Noah froze. Ran down the passage. I cupped my hands and made scary dinosaur noises and knocked again. Noah frozen in passage. "Raaaawr" I went again. He ran to his room, scared as hell. Graeme brought him to the lounge to show him it was me making the noises, not a dinosaur at the front door after all. He laughed, super amused. He didn't ask about the park after that. I'm saving for therapy, he'll be fine.
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