Crazy, But That's How it Goes

Yesterday Liam displayed his lovable strangeness. All day long, he called everyone honey, except he pronounced it "hun-ee" in his little sweet voice. "No, hun-ee, we're going to draw now, not read", he said to Graeme at one point. "Please get the markers for me, hun-ee", he said to me.

After his shower in the morning, Liam was wearing his hooded towel when Graeme spotted a piece of lint on Liam's face. Liam did not know it was there, because when Graeme pointed to his face and asked him, "What's that?", Liam removed the towel, touched the top of his head, and said in a serious voice, "It's a head, Graeme, a head". Not "my head"; "a head". I couldn't keep myself from laughing out loud.

That incident was nothing compared to his pre-nap time shenanigans. While trying not to fall asleep, Liam got up on all fours with his butt facing me, and slapped his butt like a rap video vixen while looking at me with a smile. He then sat on his usually beloved stuffed dog Snug and said, "Poot, poot!" which needs no explanation regarding his meaning. Immediately thereafter, Liam laid on top of Snug, said "Bagel, bagel!", and then grabbed Snug's paw and made Snug tap out. He then laughed, laid back on his pillow while hugging Snug, and decided to calm down. I closed my wide-open mouth and left the room before cracking up.

As if that wasn't enough, the incident that made me really laugh occurred after nap time. We were downstairs in the basement, and I forgot to bring the toddler potty seat down with us. When Liam had to go to the bathroom, I put the stool in front of the potty and told him to climb on. He has been climbing onto the regular toilet seat by himself for a few weeks if the toddler potty seat is not around, so I expected no problems this time. Even though he looked directly at the toilet before climbing up, he got up on the stool, turned around, and sat down as though the toddler seat was on. Meaning, he fell in. His lower legs, arms, and head were sticking out, and he started flailing around and crying. I picked him up and hugged him, noticed that his butt was wet from toilet water, and then burst out laughing, loudly. I just couldn't control myself. Liam finally recovered and began laughing too. After he peed without falling in, he returned to the playroom and had a tea party with his rubber dinosaurs and stuffed pink elephant.

The final funny of the day was actually said by Graeme, but he was responding to my scolding of Liam, so it counts as a goofy moment involving Liam. After the tea party, Liam decided to throw plastic food across the playroom, and I told him to shape up or he'd get a long time-out. Graeme poked his head out of the cool egg chair from Ikea where he was hiding, and said, "Hey, my brother's being bad!", as though I hadn't noticed. I think he was trying to point out that the offender was Liam without any involvement from Graeme at all.

I was waiting for something else to happen at dinner or thereafter, but I guess the craziness died down after 5 pm. I'm glad I made notes of these incidents so I could remember everything. I think I'll start carrying around a tiny notebook or Post-its, just in case. I'm sure the boys will enjoy reading about themselves when they're older - ha! In the meantime, the rest of us can have a few laughs.

Breakfast food

Years ago a coworker with a 2 year-old boy warned me about the comedy that is life with toddlers. She mentioned that her son could be difficult, but that mostly he was funny. She said she just couldn't believe the hilarious stuff that came out of his mouth sometimes. My favorite story was about how he once stood at the top of the stairs, looked down at his father over his shoulder, mooned him, and said, "Daddy! Look at my hiney!". I laughed for quite some time at that one, and thought about how some day I would have a comedienne of my own. Little did I know that I'd get two...

Graeme and Liam have been tackling and wrestling each other a lot lately. They're definitely all boy, and I'm not even talking about their enormous appetites (almost-three growth spurt?). A couple of weeks ago one of them was lying on top of the other one, both facing the floor, when Graeme yelled, "Bagel!". Liam promptly responded with "Bagel!". I figured it was just an isolated bizarre moment, but I was wrong. Ever since then, whenever one of them ends up on top of the other, they say bagel while grinning. And when Graeme is hopping on pop, he yells bagel too. Sometimes the bageling is unwanted, so we taught them to tap out when one has had enough. They say, "tap, tap", and hit whatever surface they're on like little wrestlers. Unbelievably, the other brother acknowledges the taps and gets up.

I've asked them several times, "Why bagel?", but they don't understand the meaning of "why", so it's a pointless question. The only thing I can come up with to explain this is maybe they have observed me remove a frozen bagel from the package, and saw that the pre-sliced bagels we buy have a top and a bottom. They usually see only halves of bagels on their plates. Who knows the true reason for bagel - not me. Maybe they can explain as they get older.

The funniest use of bagel was while were watching the Super Bowl, and Graeme used bageling to mean tackling. Too bad I only heard about it later from Sean instead of hearing it first-hand. They even recognize the bagel technique when they see it. I showed them the picture below of themselves, and they immediately said, "Bagel!".




We do a good bit of webcamming with the grandparents, and Graeme decided to show his Micrograeme colors with Grandma Arlene. He needed to go use the bathroom, and on his way out, he told her to pause until he returned. He literally meant for her to stop talking and freeze, just like pausing a video, which we sometimes do if one of them needs to leave the room. Arlene played along and froze, then resumed talking once Graeme was out of earshot. I warned her as he was returning, and she froze patiently until Graeme told her she could talk again. Definitely a micro moment.

About a year ago, we tried out a new indoor play place called Fidgets. Liam and Graeme weren't two yet, and they were too small and uncoordinated for the large "big kids" play area, but too big for the toddler area. We decided to try again when it rained recently, and the G & L had a great time. They are able to do everything in the huge big kids area. They loved the super slide, which is a side-by-side steep slide that gets them going really fast. They also enjoyed climbing inside a bubble-shaped area with a steering wheel which Graeme deemed the helicopter. Here's a few pics of the fun:

Graeme inside the helicopter

Liam loves the super slide

Finally, both Liam and Graeme are pushing my limits and almost constantly testing, testing, testing. These incidents result in several time outs during some days. On the way to the time out area recently, Graeme mumbled, "I'm terrific", as though he was trying to convince himself it was true. The children yell this at the end of My Gym class, and I'd never heard him say it outside of class. It was amusing but a little heartbreaking too. My little guy is funny, and he is terrific, even when he's being a bad leprechaun.