Little Steps With The Boys!

The weather has been getting quite a bit nicer. There are still those rainy cold days and we were hit with a yucky sleet storm yesterday. This past weekend though, was fabulous. I’ve been passing on the lousy days but have taken advantage of the nicer ones to get out and stretch my legs a bit. Sometimes on my own, but usually with Georgia or the boys or both. These are mostly brisk walks or slow jogs. You glass half full folks might consider the latter. I particularly enjoy the jaunts with Aidan & Ryan. They are delighted to be pushed around in the double stroller and particularly like riding in the gravel rather than on the pavement. As if I wasn’t already aware of it by the increased effort to push, but they each let me know where the hills are by repeating up, up, up, up, up as we climb. They let me know where the downhills are too. Down, down, down, down… I also get the musical treat of the alphabet song. Come on! you know the words! A-B-C-D-E-F-G…. although not necessarily in that order and Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star too. Sometimes mixed together. Hey did you realize that they both have the same tune? Another of my favorites is watching Aidan look after Ryan on the speed bumps. First he alerts us of the upcoming bump in the road. You got it! Repeating speed bump, speed bump, speed bump as we approach. Then he puts his arm around his brother, holds him as we go over and releases him once we have safely passed. He’s so cute. These ideal moments almost make ya forget about those battles over the one toy that Ryan is trying to play with and Aidan suddenly needs too. Boy’s will be boys I guess. On this particular outing we did our usual loop and then stopped by the lake on our way back to the house. Cari-anne and Georgia came down to meet us and we sat on the dock handing the boys pebbles. They would count to 3 scream with glee and toss them in the water. I’d forgotten how much fun this was. The boys were having a blast. Now one thing that has been a bit of a challenge has been separating Adian from his pacifier. We have dozens of pictures where we say “if only he didn’t have that in his mouth.” On this day I suggested “Hey, what do you guys think about throwing your pacifiers into the lake too?” They each had them out and ready to toss in a wink. I had to say “Wait! Wait a second. Once you throw it in we can’t get them back and they will be gone forever.“ I’m sure they don’t have any idea what forever is but it was enough to make them rest their beloved pacifiers in their laps. I explained that it didn’t have to be today, but they should think about it, and someday we can come back and throw them in with the fishies. The stone tossing resumed and soon it was time to head back up to the house. To my surprise, as I was backing the stroller up, I saw a little hand wave, a flash of blue and white, heard a little ploop and there bobbing on the surface was Aidan’s pacifier. When I asked him did you mean to do that he said “yes, Aidan’s a big boy now.” He repeated this all the way home and spent the rest of day telling his story to all who would listen. When bed time rolled around he found his brothers pacifier and when asked what he was doing he said “this not for Aidan, this for Ryan. Aidan’s a big boy.” I was so proud of him. What a guy! Earlier as we left the lake I had waited behind a few seconds behind to retrieve it. I wasn't quite believing that this wouldn’t be needed again. The first night was fine. I do have to admit that there was a bit of a relapse a few days later and we struck a deal that he can have his charm in bed when going to sleep. I do think we turned a little corner. Small steps add up. Speaking of steps, I’m still a bit of a lazy runner (glass half empty) but then again this time last year I had not even started yet.