The child I deserve

True confessions: As nice as I am today (hold your commentary please), I gave my mom and dad a run for their money all before the age of 3. I was a colicky baby. As a toddler, I threw such fits that I would vomit. And I learned quickly that while your mom might ignore a screaming kid, she won't ignore a vomiting one, so at 18 months old, I learned to vomit on cue. As a preschooler, I loved to change my clothes ALL THE TIME. So much that my mom created a rule: choose one outfit and wear it all day. Always looking for the loophole, I learned that if you pee on your clothes you can change them. So potty trained Amanda began to have "accidents" whenever I was ready to change my look mid-day. I ate the tops off markers and when my mom would ask me and my color covered mouth/face if I'd been eating markers again, I'd deny, deny, deny. I was precocious-- using words that I didn't quite know the meaning of (I think I might still do this) and taunting kids my age who hadn't learned to swim quite as early as I did-- "Come to the deep end, Allison!!" I BIT A HOLE in my sister's stomach when she didn't give me something that I wanted and then I cried when I thought I might get in trouble. I'm sure I had good moments, but when we decided to have children, I prepared myself mentally that I might get a kid just like me.

Now, Paxon is like me in many, many ways-- some good, some less favorable, but I'd say we made it from birth through three relatively unscathed. I am finding; however, that Asher in these early years may be the child that I deserve. He loves mischief. Asher, age one, makes sure I am looking, giggles, then b-lines to an electrical outlet-- shaking his head and saying "no no no" all the way. Lately, he's enjoying pretending to kiss me (open mouthed), then biting his teeth down not hard enough to hurt, but hard enough for him to raise an eyebrow and grin like he's gotten away with something. When he doesn't get his way, he lets me know. Loudly and with a body like a wet spaghetti noodle. Asher wants whatever toys Paxon has and seems quite willing to stand his ground to get what he wants. And, I caught him chewing on the lid of of Paxon's markers yesterday. My favorite Asher moment came recently when I was fixing lunch for the boys. Asher wandered into the open pantry. I knew he was in there, but thinking of the things on the floor decided he could play with a rolling cooler and an empty box for a few minutes. Then I heard rattling and crunching. This sequence of pictures tells the rest of the story:

You'd think these things would drive me crazy, and truly, some days they do, but I LOVE IT. I love seeing that mischievous sense of humor develop; it fills our home with laughter and we will have great practical jokes some day. I cherish his determination; it will help him overcome obstacles he'll face in his life's journey. And I hope he keeps his strong will; to know what you want and know how to go get it is a precious gift in life. Admittedly, I'm not sure quite what to make of the marker tops...

I. am. speed.

Some dear friends of ours have girls who are older than our boys. They live on a farm and had a great motorized John Deere gator that their girls had outgrown, so they shared it with us right after Paxon was born. Since he loves to vehicles of any persuasion and since John Deere could be his middle name, this was maybe the best hand-me-down EVER for our family. For 2 and 1/2 years, I left the battery out of it and we used it as a climbing toy that we pretended to drive. Shortly after Asher was born, I thought it would be good diversion for Paxon. These days, Pax drives the gator all around our neighborhood as we walk the dogs (if he's not riding his bike). I have to say, he's got a pretty good sense of how to drive. This video is from last summer as Pax was learning how to drive:

This summer, we are embracing any way we can be on the move--- running, biking, driving-- here are a couple of faster paced clips:

Catch Up

I've been trying to find a space in my world for blogging the past, um... year. Since I've not posted many pictures or stories and I want to be sure that I remember some of these precious moments... here are a few of my favorite:

She's got legs...

So, Pax and I were playing together when he brushed up against my legs.

Pax: Mommy, your legs are SO pokey! (spoken with the distain of an annoyed 15 year old)

Me: (quickly rubbing my hand along my shins) My legs are not "SO pokey." They are just a little pokey. I just shaved them yesterday.

Pax: (pausing as if he needed to think of a tactful way to break bad news) Well, maybe you should have shaved them today.

Walk This Way!

After months of taking two or three steps, then dropping to a crawl, Asher decided last night and today that he'd give walking another try. He's really only doing 10-20 steps at a time, but now he KNOWS he can do it. I'm loving seeing him toddle around and hearing his big brother cheering him on. Here are a couple of quick videos that shows a few steps.

Paxon, Paxon, Strong and Able

Paxon is almost 4. Almost. I feel some level of disbelief as I type that. A lot has happened in the last 4 and 1/2 years to make life complete and completely different than life without children. In what feels like the blink of an eye, the needy, wonderful, newborn we fell in love with has become a smart, savvy, and capable kid.

This spring, we moved from tricycle to big boy bike. I thought we should wait until Pax's birthday, but Travis insisted that he'd miss out on "prime bike riding season" if we waited until October. Since I'm not the cyclist in the family, I caved, and on a random day, for no reason at all, we gave Paxon his bike. Pax is a cautious child, and he prefers to completely master tasks before doing them independently- do it right or don't do it. After a hesitant start related to using the brakes, he is now a biking master, frequently making the very hilly, 1 mile loop around the neighborhood. There are no other words to describe it- just pure cuteness in a bike helmet. I think Travis was right to give him the bike before he turned 4, but even with training wheels, he seems like a big kid as he zooms down the sidewalks. Almost.

The big boy bike is not the only way Pax is moving up in the world. He's literally moving up. Last week, bunk beds arrived at our house via G-Daddy's delivery service. My parents were changing some things around at their home and mom asked if we'd want my old bunk beds that I got when I was 3 (and later were passed down to my brother). Paxon is delighted with his new sleep situation. Suddenly, my "cautious" child is sleeping on the top bunk. He's reminded me multiple times this week how much he loves his new beds. Apparently, he and Asher both think the bottom bunk is Asher's bed. I'm not sure Asher is quite ready for the big boy bed transition, but Pax insists he's almost there. Almost.

I think I'll cling to the "almost" for now.