Me and The Boys

Twenty, Ninety-Nine, and Nine

I was talking to a friend the other day and she pointed out that I seem way less stressed and anxious this training cycle than I did while training for Gansett. And when she said that, I realized that she was absolutely right.

Part of the reason my Gansett training was so tough was that it followed right on the heels of Hartford. I had a couple months off, but that isn't much when you're talking about throwing yourself right back into an intense 4-month training program, with a big PR in mind at the end.

Physically the training went well, but mentally, I was a complete basket case. I was filled with doubt, and I was in constant mental combat with myself, trying to overcome that doubt. And I was just plain tired. Tired of being on a training plan. Tired of having to hit certain paces every time I ran. Tired of not being able to just put on my sneakers and run for the fun of it.

I don't think I'll ever run two marathons in a single year again. I know a lot of people do it and they handle it just fine. But for me, personally, it was just too much.

But since I had a whole 9 months between running Gansett and beginning my Boston training, I went into it ready and excited to tackle the miles and cross off the workouts. And aside from a few hiccups, I've maintained a decidedly positive attitude the past 13.5 weeks, which has been a nice change.

As I head into this weekend and my final 20-miler, despite the ickiness of the past week's allergy incidents, I'm still feeling good, and feeling especially happy that this is my final 20-mile run. I'm hopeful that it will go well (especially that it will be incident-free), but even if it doesn't, I know that I've got 4 other 20-mile runs under my belt, all of which went better than I ever could have anticipated.

But I'm not alone in having something to celebrate this week - Gabe and Carmine have some big milestones, too.

And Carmine's is actually one that I get to celebrate with him, because it's as much a milestone for me as it is for him - he is now 99% potty-trained!!!!  After 9 years of changing diapers every single day, I am so, so close to never changing another one again. There are no words to adequately express how happy this makes me.

He's still happy to be confined to his crib at bedtime, though, and I'm in no hurry to change that!

People have asked me what I did to make it happen so quickly - it really only took about 4 days - but I didn't do much at all. I started putting him in underwear, we stayed close to home for a few days, and he basically did it on his own. Sure, I gave him incentives (in the form of jelly beans), and I encouraged him and congratulated him, but I basically just got lucky that I seem to have picked the exact right time, when he was really ready for it. Timing is everything!

For Gabe, the milestone is his birthday - the ninth one, to be exact. As with all of the boys as their birthdays approach, I'm kind of dumbfounded as to how so much time has already passed.

My 'baby' - I admit, I'm tearing up a little, looking at this picture

He clearly looks like a 9-year-old now, and sometimes he acts like one - but the male stereotype definitely holds true with him, and he is in no danger of acting too mature for his age.

Thankfully, he's having one of his best years of school ever. I attribute this entirely to his teachers, as they have done an absolutely amazing job keeping him as focused as possible, and helping him work to his full potential - something that is becoming harder for him, given his ADHD and the increasing complexity of the types of things he's learning about.

We are facing some tough decisions in the upcoming year - namely, whether or not to keep him at his current school through the 5th grade, or to pull him out and have him move to the middle school (which is 5th and 6th grade) for 5th, so that he's entering that environment at the same time as all of his peers, rather than coming in as 'the new kid' in 6th grade.

I think there are pros and cons either way, but for someone like Gabe, we're more inclined to believe that it would be better for him to be with that same group of kids for two full years - and to have those two full years in the middle school setting.

Transitions typically do not go smoothly for him, and this is going to be a doozy of a transition, and I fear that if we wait until 6th grade, by the time he's finally settling in, it'll be time for him to move on again to the junior high school for 7th and 8th.

What makes me sad (and nervous), though, is the thought of taking him out of this incredible, nurturing, small, fun, and vibrant community that he's been so fortunate to be a part of for the past 4 years. I know it's going to happen eventually, but there's a part of me that wants to let him spend that one additional year there, where I know he'll flourish.

That's not to say that I think he's not going to do well in middle school - but it's going to be a vastly different experience, both for him and for us, and although he's got an IEP in place to help us all navigate the waters as we make these changes, I still worry about how well that's all going to translate in the 'regular' public school system.

Two or three years ago, this all seemed like it was so far off, I didn't spend a lot of time thinking about it. But now it's right on our doorstep, and like everything else that comes up with these boys of mine, it all seems like it's rushing forward far too quickly.

When you're living this life with three young kids, and you're caught up in the day-to-day, and some days it seems like it's all you can do to just survive 'til bedtime, it's hard to remember what they were like years, and even months ago. And it's just as hard to imagine what they'll be like months and years in the future.

Six years ago - look at those adorable rosy cheeks : )

I took Carmine to a park a few weeks ago that happens to be right next to the high school, and it was an unusally warm day, and there were a bunch of teenage boys sitting outside the cafeteria eating their lunch. As I watched them, it occurred to me that it really isn't going to be very long before Gabe is one of those boys. And Dante, too. (not Carmine - I just got him potty-trained - I still have some time before I start thinking of him as a teenager!!!)

And even though the inevitability of that stares me in the face every day, as I watch them outgrow their clothes, and read ever-more-complex books, and eat me out of house and home - I still can't think of them as anything but the age they are at this very moment in time.

I suppose that's a good thing. Because even though at this very moment in time, Gabe is a master at testing the waters of back talk, and honing his skills as the exasperated and always put-upon oldest child, he's also still more than happy to curl up on the couch and hold my hand, and to dance around the living room (with not the least bit of self-consciousness) with Carmine, and to wear bunny ears at Easter.

And he's also the boy who, because he was so excited last night about his birthday, was in his bed sobbing at 9:30pm because he was sure that he would "never, ever get to sleep because he had three thousand thoughts running around in his head." 

That nearly brought me to tears, and I spent 15 minutes sitting on his bed, rubbing his back until his eyes closed and his breathing slowed and he fell asleep.

I know that we very soon will be entering a phase where he's going to encounter a whole lot of problems that I can't really solve, so I took great comfort in being able to solve this one.

Ups and Downs

Up:  We had a fantastic visit with family in CT yesterday. The boys had a great time, we had a great time, and the trip there and back home went fairly well. Good stuff.  We know for certain that Gabe had a good time, because as we were driving away last night, he said "Awwww, I HATE going home! I want to do something that's really very fun, like going to Grammy and Grampy's house EVERY day!"   Since that isn't a possibility, I guess he'll just have to settle for hanging out with us, his oh-so-boring and ordinary parents. He has a tough life.

Down:  Temps were in the single digits yesterday, and it's been snowing for much of the day today. I am So. Done. With. Winter.  I made a valiant attempt to look on the bright side today, and be thankful that I can take the boys out to play in the snow, thereby giving me at least one reason to enjoy it. And we did have fun sledding down the small hill in the backyard, and helping Scott shovel the driveway. But I am still DONE with the cold weather and the snow.

Up:  Despite the crazy cold weather, I had a good run yesterday morning. After 4 days of slacking due to one pathetic excuse or another, I finally got my butt back in gear and got out there, and it was tough, but it felt good. I averaged just over an 8:00 pace, which I was very pleased with. Planning to do my long run tomorrow, and will aim for anywhere from 8 - 10 miles.

Down: After his victorious poop on the potty of last week, Dante promptly reverted to pooping on the floor and in his underwearThat is all I have to say about that.

Up:  Both boys slept until nearly 6:45 this morning. Hallelujah!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  That is all I have to say about that, too.

I'll end with some pictures of the boys in the snow today, which is a definite 'up.'

He looks exactly like Scott all the time, but in this photo, the resemblance is particularly uncanny -

Notice how Dante is working hard clearing the driveway while Gabe sits....

....and eats snow.

Longest Day Ever

Breaking news!  Dante pooped on the potty today!!!!! Woohoo!!!!!!  We celebrated with M&Ms, there was much jumping up and down and congratulatory exclamations; we will have a cupcake after dinner tonight; and tomorrow we will go buy him a new toy. Yes, I stooped to bribing him with toys, and I am not the least bit ashamed, because IT WORKED!  And don't tell me that if you were cleaning poop off the floor every day, you wouldn't do the exact same thing. 

Now we just have to hope that he remembers how exciting and fabulous this whole thing is, and that he does it every time from now on. 

It was good timing, too, because we had one crazy bad night last night. Of course I stayed up too late last night watching the stupid American Idol premiere, and of course last night was the night the boys decided that they didn't feel like sleeping. 

Gabe got up at 2am to go to the bathroom. He has a hard time getting back to sleep, and his being out and about woke me up, so I was having a hard time getting back to sleep. But eventually he settled down in his room and was being pretty quiet, and I was just drifting off to sleep around 3am when Dante came running in our room crying. 

He had woken up because he had 'the funny feet.' That's what he calls it when his foot falls asleep and feels all tingly. It happens to him occasionally and really upsets him, and it usually takes us a while to calm him down. And of course Dante's commotion caused Gabe - who hadn't yet gotten back to sleep - to come out of his room to investigate, so we were all up. Hooray. 

We finally got them both back in bed around 3:30, and I was again just drifting off to sleep when I heard a pack of coyotes howling and barking outside. We hear them occasionally, and it's a very loud, very disturbing noise.

And since neither of the boys had yet gone back to sleep, they both came running in our room asking where the dogs were. 

There were several other disturbances, and several other instances of me almost falling back asleep only to be woken by someone or something, and in the end, none of us ever fully went back to sleep. At all. Not a wink. 

After a while, I gave up on trying to get the boys back to bed and told them to stay in Gabe's room and play quietly, and to stay OUT of our room. They mostly followed those instructions, except that they were anything but quiet, and we finally all came downstairs around 7am. 

I was in an awful mood due to being incredibly tired - and, yes, angry at the two little people whose fault it was that I was so tired. But I didn't want to have a terrible day because of that, so I tried my best to pull myself together and not be crabby. 

We were all losing it around 10am, though, and instead of sitting around the house wallowing in our exhaustion and anger, we piled into the car and went to do some shopping. I took the long, long way to the store, and they both got some sleep, and after a quick stop at Target, we went out to lunch. 

While we were sitting at lunch, "Our House" by Madness came on in the restaurant, and the boys were both sitting in the booth dancing and bopping along to the music, and I had one of those moments where I realized that no matter what they do to make me angry, or upset me, or drive me insane - whether it's keeping me up half the night for no reason whatsoever, or pooping all over my living room floor - I will always love them so much that it hurts.

Turning The Corner?

Because I know you're all as obsessed with Dante's potty training progress as I am, I'm just popping on for a quick update. And it's a good one!  

This afternoon, Dante and I left the house to pick up Gabe from school. From there, we went to Shaw's to pick up a few groceries. After that, we swung by Dunkin' Donuts to get them each a treat, courtesy of Dante's DD gift card that Aunt Ree and Uncle Kendall got him for his birthday (best birthday gift ever!). Then, we took a ride by the ocean before we came home. 

By the time we got home, we had been out and about for nearly two hours, and Dante was wearing underwear the whole time, and did not have a single accident!  WOOOOOOOHOOOOOOO!!!!!!  

I made sure to make a VERY big deal out of it, and he was so proud of himself - it was so cute to see him looking so pleased with himself. 

And the grand total for accidents today - two. That's it. Just two.

I don't want to get ahead of myself, but I am feeling hopeful that we may be turning the corner here. 

I almost can't imagine a world without diapers to be changed. It just doesn't seem possible. But I think we're actually almost there.....

I Knew I'd Find A Use For All Those Race T-Shirts

Race t-shirts, as it turns out, make great painting smocks - 

The boys got a bunch of new painting supplies from their Aunt and Uncle for Christmas, and had a great time testing them out yesterday. They painted three large sheets of paper, and after the paint had dried, I cut the paper into small notecard-sized pieces, and that's what we used for thank-you cards. Gabe signed his name himself on every single card - I'm so proud of him! 

Potty training Dante continues to go only so-so. He's still having several accidents a day, and it's frustrating, but I'm keeping my cool and being consistent, and reminding myself that we just have to stick with the plan and it will work - hopefully sooner rather than later. 

We had a rough morning yesterday, due to crankiness on everyone's part. I think we all woke up on the wrong side of the bed. And since Dante is in the process of dropping his nap, and only napping every 3 or 4 days, and still waking up around 5:30 every morning, he's kind of perpetually tired lately. I'm hoping that when he drops the nap for good, he'll start sleeping later. That would be a fair tradeoff, I think. 

After we picked Gabe up from school yesterday, I was going to take them up to Target to do some shopping, but they were both whining and acting generally  unpleasant in the car, so when we were halfway there, I turned around and came home. There was nothing that we HAD to get right away, and I knew the whole thing was just going to end badly, with me getting frustrated because I was dragging two whining complaining kids through the store. 

So, instead, we came home and got all snuggled up on the couch under our new fleece blankets, and read books for about 45 minutes, and then watched "Snoopy, Come Home." 

I definitely made the right decision, and I think we were all much happier as a result. 

They loved the movie, too. That movie gets pretty sad and serious, but the beginning parts have some really silly stuff, and I couldn't believe how much Gabe loved it. He was sitting on the couch giggling uncontrollably at all of Snoopy's antics. His little laugh was such a great sound, and really wiped away all of the day's stresses. We'll definitely be renting some more Snoopy movies for them, now that I know they like them so much. 

The boys start soccer tomorrow - I was happy to find a program for ages 3 - 6, so they can do it together. I think they'll really like it, and it'll be so cute to watch them! 

I ran yesterday, but it was a slow one. We had sleet and rain on Wednesday, and it was pretty cold yesterday morning, so there were still a lot of icy spots, especially on the sides of the road where I run, so I really had to take it slow and be extra cautious. It was nice to run at a more relaxed pace, though. 

I'm planning on getting in a long run (between 8 and 10 miles) this weekend, but I'm going to have to keep an eye on the weather to figure out when will be the best time to go, since they're predicting a pretty significant snowstorm for us this weekend. 

Have I mentioned how much I'm already daydreaming about spring?????

A Gray Day

We're two days into potty training, and I've washed 8 pairs of underwear and thrown away one pair. I don't like being wasteful like that, but unless someone wants to volunteer to come over and wash out poopy underwear for me, I'm tossing them. It's just waaaaaayyyyy too disgusting.

I was hoping there would be fewer accidents today, but I'm not getting discouraged yet. We've gotta stick with this, and I know he'll get there. And he was actually doing pretty well today until we had friends over for a playdate this afternoon, and he had an accident during the playdate and right after. I think it was the combination of all the excitement/distractions of the playdate, plus the fact that he refused to nap today. Not a good recipe for potty training success.

Anyway, on to day 3.....

It was a miserable day here today - started out with sleet, and then turned to rain, so the roads were just full of slush. We braved the cold rain to get out to the gym this morning, but that was it for us - we stayed in after that.

Dante apparently fell down at the gym and fell on a plastic dinosaur, and while we were eating lunch, he and Gabe had one of the funniest conversations I've ever heard, all about The Dinosaur Incident. I wish I had videotaped it, because I can't remember a lot of it now, but it was kind of like a "Who's on first?" routine. Gabe kept asking "what dinosaurs was it?" and Dante kept saying "No, it was just ONE dinosaur, Gabe!"  and then Gabe asked if it was a real dinosaur, and Dante replied "No, it was just ONE dinosaur, Gabe!"  And then Gabe was asking whose dinosaur it was, and if it was brown, and if it talked to him and scared him, and Dante replied "No, it was just ONE, TWO, THREE dinosaurs, Gabe!"

I'm sure it doesn't sound nearly as funny when I recap it that way as it did when it was happening, but I was practically falling off my chair, I was laughing so hard. I think what's funniest is that they have such earnest, serious discussions over such small things. It's so funny, and so unbelievably cute.

The playdate this afternoon went ok. We haven't been to or hosted a playdate in a while, and I think Gabe was a little overwhelmed, and he really lost it when everyone first got here. He was freaking out because the little kids were taking apart the train tracks on the train table, and I tried to explain to him that it was ok, and that I'd put them back together after everyone left, but he continued to freak out, so I had to bring him upstairs so he could cool down and pull himself together. He calmed down after that, but it's just so frustrating and disappointing when he acts like that.

And since Dante hadn't taken a nap, he was in rare form, too. He did ok, but he was just being extra loud (and seeing as how he's already a very loud child, that's saying something), and toward the end of the playdate, as everyone was leaving, he let out a blood-curdling scream and threw a toy in the air.

I think we're going to get banned from playdates one of these days.

Seriously, they really don't usually behave like that, but I hate it when they do. It's embarrassing and upsetting and makes the whole experience nowhere near as fun as it should be.

It was just a long day, and I'm tired, and looking forward to getting to bed, and hoping that they're better behaved the next time we go to a playdate!

Kidspeak

In addition to his trademark "double drack!," Gabe has come up with a new phrase that he uses when he's angry. Specifically, he uses it when we're disciplining him for something and he doesn't like that he's being disciplined (which is pretty much always). He'll get a very stern look on his face and yell "Stop my dimicle!" 

What this means, I don't know. I'm guessing that I said something to the effect of "stop being difficult," and this is his garbled interpretation of that. 

It's all I can do to not burst out laughing whenever he says it. 

And I can't remember who said it first, nor do I know WHERE they could possibly have picked this one up, but they'll occasionally, out of the clear blue, say "too nasty!" and start laughing hysterically. 

??????????   

That's a great segue into some potty-training talk, though, because poop on the floor is pretty nasty, and that's what we had to deal with this morning. Actually, it happened while I was out for my run, so Scott was the one who had to clean it up, so HE had to deal with it, not me. How's that for good timing? 

The kicker is that when this incident occurred, Dante was standing RIGHT NEXT TO THE POTTY SEAT! Did he not see it there? Did he forget it was there? 

I'm very quickly remembering how much I hate potty training, and why I put it off for so long. 

I know it's only day 2, and I have to cut the kid some slack, but I really hope he starts getting the hang of this quickly. 

He did ok overall today, though. Had a few accidents, but there were also a few times where he remembered to go potty himself, which was a big accomplishment. 

Anyway, I won't subject anyone to any more detailed accounts of our potty training adventures. It could be going better, but it could be going worse, too. On to day 3..... 

So I decided to get in my one final run this morning, and it went well. I am absolutely sure, though, that I'm making the right decision about resting the remainder of this week. 

I've got the info sheet for the race printed out, have downloaded a bunch of new songs and am finalizing my playlist, and am going berserk with the anticipation and excitement. 

My plan is to pick up my race packet on Friday afternoon. I think it'll be so much nicer to have that done ahead of time. I'm going to be nervous enough Saturday morning without having to worry about getting that taken care of. And it'll be fun to bring the boys over there Friday, and let them check out the race headquarters. 

We're already talking to them about the race, and how they're going to come cheer for me. And this morning when I was stretching out after my run, they both sat down on the floor and stretched with me. They were really copying all my stretches, too. I could picture us all doing that in about 7 or 8 years, after we had all gotten back from a run together. Can you imagine?? How awesome would that be? 

4 days and counting....

What Will We Do With All That Extra Money?

This morning Dante told me he wanted to wear big-boy underwear. I've been saying for months that I should really get going with potty training him, but have been putting it off, due solely to my laziness. But I figured if he was asking, then maybe it was time to get started.

So today was Day 1, and it went ok. He had several accidents, but most of them were when he was distracted (playing at the park, absorbed in a coloring project). Hopefully tomorrow goes a little better. I have to do better with reminding him to go sit on the potty more frequently - I get distracted, too!

I don't know how long it will take to get him fully trained, but the thought of not having to deal with (or pay for!) diapers is awfully appealing, and I'm really hoping that day is not too far off in our future.

He was still wearing his diaper before breakfast, though, and I asked him to give me a hug. Apparently he had just pooped, because when I asked him for a hug, he came over and looked at me sadly and said "I'm too poopy to hug."  I hugged him anyway.

The past few mornings, he's been standing at the train table doing his "exercises," which are basically like a calf raise. He just stands there and holds onto the edge of the table, and raises himself up on his toes. And he wants to make sure that I see him - he yells over to me "Look, Mommy, I'm doing my exercises!" 

He also made up two songs today. The cup song, and the shoe song. The cup song went like this - "This is my cup. This is my cup. This is my cup," etc., etc.  And the shoe song went like this - "This is my shoe. This is my shoe. This is my shoe," etc., etc.   He is seriously a born entertainer.

We had a nice day today. Went to the park with the moms club, and stayed and had our lunch there. And this afternoon the boys and I played out in the yard for a long time. All in all, we probably spent close to half our day outside - it was wonderful. We were having a lot of fun this afternoon. They each have a small plastic bat, and we were hitting tennis balls with the bats, and they were having such a great time. We really need to get them a little tee to hit off of.

Scott took them for a hike yesterday afternoon, and when they finished their hike, they walked by a Little League field and watched part of the game, and Scott said they were really getting into it. And tonight we had them watching the Sox game - good thing they had to go to bed before the end; they didn't have to watch the Sox get their butts kicked by Tampa Bay.

It's all got me thinking, though, that we really need to get Gabe signed up for some sporting activities. Our local Y has a sort of 'sampler' class that I might sign him up for this winter - they do a little soccer, a little baseball, and some basketball, too. I think it'd be a good way to let him try a few different things, so he can figure out what he'd like to do more of, and then we can sign him up for a single sport in the spring.

And of course we know he loves running, so I'll continue to keep my eyes open for 5Ks that have short kids fun runs that we can enter him and Dante in.

Speaking of running (and rest assured that I'll be doing a lot of speaking of running this week!), I am not 100% decided that I'm not going to run at all this week. I know that it would be very beneficial for me to get in at least one or two short, easy runs. But I think at the most, I'd only attempt one, and it would be very, very short. My shin is begging for some rest, and if I want it to carry me through 26.2 miles on Saturday, I think the least I can do is cut it some slack this week.

We'll see, though. As I have for the last 6 or so weeks, I'm just taking it one day at a time.

5 days and counting......

Mid-Week Miscellany

It's been a busy week, and just got busier today, with Thanksgiving preparations well underway. Gabe helped me make the apple pie this afternoon, which was fun. I baked some other desserts, and made mashed potatoes, and everything else has to wait until tomorrow. But it'll all come together - it always does.

It was fun having him help me with the pie. Dante was asleep while we were doing that, so it was some nice Mommy and Gabe time. He's been seeming much older and more mature lately. I mean, don't get me wrong - he's still clearly a very immature 3 1/2-year-old boy, but he has shown more maturity lately. It's great, but it's also so very bittersweet.

We did three special projects for Thanksgiving - the handprint/footprint turkeys, which are hanging in the dining room windows. Then we also made placemats that I'll use on the table tomorrow - we glued colorful leaves to construction paper, sprinkled some glitter around them, and laminated them. And today, we put glue on a bunch of pinecones and then sprinkled those with glitter, and I'm going to put them in a glass bowl as our centerpiece. It's going to be a very sparkly table : )  I think the boys will be really excited to see their handiwork on display like that!

We've had pretty awful weather the past two days. We got out to the park Monday before lunch, but haven't been able to get outside since then - it's been cold and rainy.

They had a great time at the park Monday, though - we were the only ones there, and since nobody else was there, I didn't stop the boys when they decided it would be really fun to throw mulch down the slide. But I did mention to Gabe that if he went down the slide with all the mulch on it, he'd get all dirty. He replied "No problem, Mommy." I love it when he says stuff like that - he cracks me up; especially since, most of the time, I think he doesn't fully understand what it is he's saying. They had so much fun, though, and were having such a great time playing together - it was just fantastic to see.

I'm trying to make the most of our time indoors these past two days. We've been doing a lot of tent-making - draping blankets between chairs, and crawling inside with flashlights. They both seem to really get a kick out of that. And yesterday again they played together really nicely for a really long time in the "tent" we had made upstairs. They've been playing together more and more lately, and I love it. Still plenty of fighting, but that's to be expected. I'm just glad they're relating to each other a bit more.

Dante is seriously getting close to potty training. A few times this week, he's come up to me and pulled at his pants, trying to take them off, saying "pee, pee." So I bring him to the potty, and he pees. I don't think he's ready for full-on potty training just yet, but I am feeling very confident that he could be trained before he's three, which would be fantastic.

The only problem with all of this is that he's also learned how to take his pants off, and does so whenever he feels like it. It's one thing when he does it at home, but he's also tried to do it at the park. It's really funny, though - I'll be working in the kitchen, and he and Gabe are playing in the living room, and suddenly I turn around and Dante has no pants on!

Speaking of disrobing - after we got Gabe's hair cut last weekend, he was really itchy from all the hair that had fallen down his shirt. He refuses to wear the cape around his neck, so the hair gets all over him. And we were out grocery shopping, and he was whining about how itchy he was - scratching at his neck and saying "something's wrong." So I took off his fleece coat, and for a minute, he seemed better. Then he started complaining again, so we had to take off his sweatshirt, too. Now he was down to just his white undershirt, and he wanted to take that off, too! That's where I drew the line!

I explained to him that next time he gets a haircut, he needs to wear the cape so that he doesn't get so itchy, and he said "I don't want to go to the haircut place for a long time."

One of Dante's new favorite pastimes is to get on one of their little stepstools and bring it over to a light switch and turn the light on and off, and on and off, and on and off, and on and off. The other day Gabe was yelling at him to stop doing this, and I started telling Gabe about how he used to do the exact same thing when he was Dante's age (except he didn't need a stool because he was so tall), and he thought that was pretty funny, so he stopped being mad at Dante.

I can't even keep track of all the new words Dante is saying now. He's so chatty. He picked up a halloween book this morning and said "Hoween." And he also can say "olives" and "snow," and unfortunately, whenever Gabe says "why?" Dante follows up with his own "why, why, why, why?"

Gabe had a rough night sleeping Tuesday. He woke up at 2am and would not go back to sleep. He wanted to sleep in our bed, and I told him he couldn't, but he kept coming back down the hall and trying to climb into our bed. So finally I told him he could lay down on the floor next to our bed, but if he made any noise, he'd have to go back to his room. He padded off down the hall, grabbed his stuffed animals, blanket, and pillow, and set up camp right next to our bed. And apparently being in the same room with us was enough to make him feel better, because he went right to sleep.

And thankfully he slept fine last night, so I'm hoping that was just a fluke. I tried to get him to tell me what was wrong, but he just kept saying that his bed "isn't a nice bed." I have no idea what that means.....   

But when Scott was talking to him about it later that day, we were reiterating how he needs to sleep in his own bed at night, so we had a whole discussion about it. Then Scott said "So, Gabe, you're going to sleep in your bed tonight, right?"  And Gabe said "No." And Scott said "Are you going to sleep on the floor in your room?"  And Gabe said "No."  So Scott said "Well, where are you going to sleep, then?" 

Gabe looked at him, and said in an incredulous tone, that implied disbelief that we would even have to ask him such a thing - "I'm going to sleep in your room."

'Tis The Season

The season of sickness begins. Gabe has a full-blown cold/upper respiratory thing, complete with fever. He woke up at 2am and would not go back to sleep, so he and I came downstairs and watched TV. This is one of those times I realize why it IS a good thing to have a 24-hour TV channel of PBS programming for preschoolers. He was pretty miserable - and feverish - all morning, but seemed to be feeling slightly better around lunchtime, and ate a pretty good lunch, actually, so hopefully he's turning the corner. His cough and congestion started Sunday morning when we were in CT, and I was hoping it wouldn't turn into anything worse than a little cold, but alas, it did.

Dante's nose is running like a faucet, but no other symptoms as of yet, so hopefully it will stay that way. It's just a shame that Gabe is so under the weather, because it's an absolutely gorgeous day, and we've been stuck inside all morning. If his fever is gone, and he seems in good spirits, I think I'll take them outside to play this afternoon.

I was pretty exhausted this morning, after being up for several hours in the middle of the night, but I knew that since Gabe was sick, I wouldn't be able to get to the gym today, so I dragged myself out for a run this morning before Scott had to be in to work. I'm glad I did. I was a bit sluggish, but still managed 3.4 miles in just over 30 minutes, so not all that sluggish.

We were supposed to have playgroup today, too, but obviously we had to bail on that. Hopefully we'll be able to make it to the next one. I'm just glad I hadn't mentioned it to Gabe.....

So, we had a great time in CT this weekend. The kids had so much fun playing together, as always. I got a great video clip of Gabe, Dante, Mason and HR running around like maniacs after dinner. I'll be sure to upload it and post it later. Since I went down with them by myself, we all slept in the same room together, and as I expected, we all ended up sleeping in the same bed. It's not the ideal situation, but in some ways, it's kind of nice to be all snuggled up with them. Not something I'd want to do on a regular basis, but it is kind of fun.

Neither of them took naps on Saturday, and of course they were both completely wired and hyper Saturday night - and overtired, to boot - so there was a bit of a meltdown when I brought them upstairs to put them to bed, and Dante realized that I was planning on leaving the room. His sobbing caused Gabe to start sobbing, and in the end, I just laid down in bed with them until Dante fell asleep. Gabe seemed ok with me leaving, but after I went downstairs and listened to the monitor for a while, and heard that he was nowhere near ready to go to sleep, I went and got him and brought him downstairs, where he sat in the living room and watched the Red Sox game with Mom and Dad.

It was pretty cute to see him sitting there chatting with Mom about the game. We always tell him to say "Go Red Sox!", so he asked her where the Red Sox were going : )  When I see him having actual conversations with people like that, it makes me realize just how big he's getting.

The first thing he wants to do whenever we go to CT now is play with Mike. He and Mike go in the attic playroom and play matchboxes, or rescue heroes, or Legos, and Gabe is just in heaven. It's odd for me to just let him go somewhere without my supervision like that, and it's not that I don't trust Mike - it just feels wrong to not be right there with Gabe, making sure he doesn't do anything he's not supposed to do, or that he doesn't get hurt.....  I guess I better get used to it, though, because it's going to be happening more and more.

He's still my baby boy, though. Every morning when he gets up, one of the first things he asks is "Is Mommy readin' me books tonight?" Scott and I take turns putting them to bed, and Gabe always wants me to be the one to put him to bed. I think it's hysterical, though, that he's thinking about that practically before he's even gotten out of bed in the morning! And the other night, just out of the blue, he said "You're my great Mommy!"  And this morning, in his feverish state, when we came downstairs to watch TV, he hugged me and said "I love sitting with you on the couch."

A few more things about Gabe - we were eating some strawberries with breakfast the other day, and he said "Mmmm....these strawberries are nice and fresh and fruity!" And this morning, when I was giving him his Tylenol, he was trying to say 'This is going to make me feel better," but it came out as "This feel me better."

So many Gabe-isms, so little time....

Dante is doing well. He's occasionally saying "boo" for 'boo-boo," and says "uh-oh!" all the time. And he's saying "Hi," too. So his language is coming along, slowly but surely. And his sign language is still going well, too. He's using it much more deliberately now. Oh, and he peed on the potty again last night, too! He was so proud of himself.

This morning when I came home from my run, I was going through my usual 20-minute stretching routine, and when I was standing against the wall stretching my calves, he came over and leaned against the wall and put his foot up against the wall, just like I was doing. It was so cute!

He's a real mischief-maker, though. Just like his daddy in ALL respects. He's been climbing for a while, but he's recently discovered that he can push the kitchen chairs over to the counters and climb up and reach everything that's up there. Gabe, for one reason or another, never picked up on this, and I am none too thrilled that Dante has.