Can't forget...

EW and H stayed home from school yesterday and today due to colds that wouldn't go away and coughs that were worsening. (Henry was the blood work champ, taking the finger prick for him and his brother to test for walking pneumonia, which, thankfully, was negative. They're being treated for sinus infections.)

Henry went to my office with me on Monday morning since he woke as I was preparing to leave early, and I wanted to make sure that Elgin could sleep in as long as possible while Daddy stayed home with him for a short while before I returned. Henry was beyond excited for this rare opportunity to hang out in my office. He quickly dressed and brushed his teeth and was especially thrilled that we packed him a breakfast of Count Chocula cereal.

Once there, he settled in a chair beside me at my desk, selected my brain eraser-topped pencil, and drew pumpkin faces and ghosts and managed to ask a lot of questions about my work while chowing down on some sugar cereal. As the morning passed a few coworkers were made aware of my little assistant's persistent coughing. One particularly nice but somewhat naive coworker popped her head in to say hello to Henry. She told him that she hoped he felt better, to which Henry replied, "I'm drawing a lot of penises on this ghost."

WHAT?!?!

I just burst out laughing, and I don't know if Patty's brain registered his bold statement, or if she was just laughing because I was laughing. I hope it was the later. My work can be very entertaining, but it rarely makes me laugh that hard that early in the morning.

After we got home and Cory left for his office, Elgin stood on his little red table then fell off onto a couple of baskets. Then, later, he was running towards me and tripped and fell face first on my shoe. We were visited by some Jehovah's Witnesses shortly afterwards. Thank you, God, for sending me signs affirming my working mom status.

The boys stayed home again today with Cory, and Cory reported some additions to Elgin's language development.  EW's no longer just standing in our chairs. He now crawl on them, stands, and says, "'it down!"

When I called Cory this afternoon to tell him I was on my way home, Elgin heard the phone ring and said, "hello?"

Their appetites are back, their spirits never dampened. They're off to school tomorrow and hitting the sidewalk to beg for candy tomorrow evening.  Let's just watch what comes out of those sweet mouths.

More wagon fun

We have a cute, classic, wooden, Radio Flyer wagon for our boys.  It belonged to the Josh and Caleb, but since they're not using it right now, we pull along in our neighborhood in a Pleasantville fashion. Cory had to work late a few nights ago, so before bedtime routine stuff, I suggested that we get outside and pass some time with Elgin rolling in the wagon and Henry riding his bike. (The boys were just coming off a very successful trike-a-thon, and H was getting back into the bike riding rhythm.)

All was euphoric. A neighbor stopped with her dog to catch up, and H pedaled back and forth, up and down the sidewalk. Elgin declared her pet a "dawg" a few times while reaching to pet it. Then, in a classic EW move, he stood up to yell, "DAWG!" as the furry friend walked away. From there, he stood taller when I asked him to sit back down, he arched his stomach up when I tried to sit him down myself, then he turned himself into a board with side gripping hands when I tried to lie him down in the wagon. I stopped to catch my breath and try to safely position the wagon, which gave him time to stand back up and crawl over the side to plant his feet on the ground.

So, again, I was faced with a choice: chase my boy who was sure to bolt after the dog or try to park the wagon to keep it from crashing with either Elgin or my other son who was happily oblivious on his bike.

I parked the wagon.  I know the perils of a runaway wagon.

Elgin bolted to the street.  I grabbed him when he reached the middle of the intersection across from our house.  When I tried to pull the wagon out of a neighbor's yard, he squirmed his way back down to the ground and tried to run back to the street. Another neighbor came outside and asked if I needed help. I declined for unknown reasons and made it back to the driveway to ditch the wagon and just "walk" Elgin behind H. He was more inclined to stick to the sidewalk when he had a brother on wheels to chase.

My goodness! I'm feeling a little leery of wagons and thinking I'll lay off on solo wagoneering.  It's not for me.

Utensil prowess

We discovered on Sunday morning that Elgin is more comfortable using his fork to eat certain foods than he is using his fingers. It's pretty cute that our 13 month old boy insists on a fork but not quite as cute that our 4.5 year old shuns utensils daily. The differences are already so apparent!