An Entry Typed Entirely on iPhone!

Well, it finally happened: I missed a week of blogging. I am determined that this was a fluke and not a new trend, and I have a good excuse! Last Saturday, April SIXTEENTH, I spent Jill Time working on our income tax return. It was even more fun than it sounds, and it ended not with my filing a completed return but with my filing for an extension, which was granted and allows me another six months of procrastination time. The highlights of the week I missed out on documenting included an Easter egg hunt, a trip to the zoo with our friends Melanie and Claudia, a visit to a fire station with our friends Jenny and Parker, and a tour of a third preschool for Henry that turned out to be The One. He starts school on August 8th and goes Tuesdays and Thursdays year round. We are really excited, and I had to tear him away from the room where he will have class, which I think is a pretty good sign. Also that week, we did away with both time outs as punishment (they weren't working) and treats as rewards for good behavior; this was after I read a book called Unconditional Parenting by Alfie Kohn. It has made me completely rethink my parenting style, and I think literally every parent should be made to read it, though I haven't figured out yet how to enforce that kind of law. Anyway, it's changed the way I deal with my kids, in a very positive way, and I hope it will be the solution to the jealousy issues we've been having with Henry. So far it seems to be working, but then I've been in Morristown all week, with lots of help from grandparents, and Henry's "issues" always seem much improved when he can have round-the-clock individual attention!

Which brings me to this week: the boys and I went to Morristown on Monday to help Mamaw and Papaw Moore, because Papaw is under the weather. Grammy drove down on Sunday to help us withthe trip on Monday, and I was glad she did, because you just never know about road trips. We spent the week at Grammy and Grandpa's, and they helped watch the boys while I helped Sharonrun the cash register at the store. The nights were rough because the three of us had to sleep in the bed together, and Mr. I-Still-Wake-Every-Two-Or-Three-Hours-Like-A-Newborn was in rare form. Also we missed Russell a lot. He had Good Friday off, though, so he joined us in Morristown for Easter weekend. As I type this, we are in the car on Easter Sunday, driving back to Hendersonville. The battery of our computer, fully charged when I placed it in the computer bag a few hours ago, has mysteriously depleted ninety percent of its charge, which explains why I am typing this entry with one finger, on the iPhone. In your face, computer! In your face.

I don't know if my mood is bad right now, or if it's our family troubles, or if it's the prospect of unpacking the kids and the van and the Easter candy in a few hours, or the prospect of returning to life in a town with no family nearby, or what, but I am having a terribly hard time drumming up anything positive or funny or entertaining to say here. Maybe you should stop reading now and just wait for next week's post. You could go see what's on television. No? OK, well there was one really funny thing that happened around midnight one morning in Morristown. I could tell you about that. Picture it: it's midnight, as I already mentioned, and the boys and I have been asleep for a couple of hours. We wake up because you-know-who hasn't had milk to drink in a couple of hours. I'm exhausted because I have been sleeping with both boys for a couple of nights, so it must have been like Thursday. So I grab Charlie and cradle him in my arm so I can give him the first of the six pack or so of bottles he drinks throughout each night. Meanwhile, Henry, who is lying on the bed next to us, is crying and crying, and I have no idea why. "Henry! HENRY!!!" I hiss, "Stop crying and tell me what's wrong!" I think maybe he is scared because it is very, very dark in the room where we are sleeping. He just keeps crying. As I continue prompting him to tell me why he's crying, Charlie is refusing his bottle, which is odd. Finally, "Charlie" surprises me by saying clearly, "Mommy, I don't WANT baby milk!" In my stupor, I had inadvertently grabbed Henry and tried to feed him a bottle of breast milk, while Charlie, starving, lay crying on the bed. I shared this story with family members later, and I got the impression they found it less hilarious than I did, so it's possible a level of sleep deprivation is required for it to be truly appreciated, but I still laugh when I think about it.

Here's what Henry and Charlie are up to right now:

Henry has begun calling us "Mom" and "Dad," so I guess he'll be getting his driver's license soon. He also continues to utter phrases that came straight from my mouth, which always takes me aback. "Mom, listen, I need to tell you something," he'll say seriously when he really wants my full attention. He has been protective of Charlie this week in Morristown, though again, I am hesitant to ascribe this to anything more than his having received lots of attention in Morristown. Still, it was nice to see! He had a really good time searching for Easter eggs this week with his grandparents, and one day he dyed eggs with each of his grandmothers separately, unbeknownst to the two of them.

Charlie is saying "Quack," "Bye bye," "Yay," and "Shh." When Russell was still in Hendersonville this week, and we were in Morristown, Charlie was very clearly saying "Dadadada" to him over the phone. One night we all slept in bed together, and I was saying, "Shh shh shh shh," to try to get Charlie to sleep, and he started saying it, too, and giggling. Then he and Henry would take turns saying it and giggling. Charlie has come up with a "move" of his own, totally unprompted: from a sitting position, he spins himself around 360 degrees, over and over, pausing between spins to acknowledge the applause and smiles that inevitably follow. "I ask you," he seems to demand, "could walking draw more attention than THIS?"

Some photos from our week: