Sweet moments (by my Momma)

Yesterday something happened that just touched my heart. Mark had been having a rough couple of days, not obeying very well, teasing and even hitting other kids, and fussing and crying a lot. To his defense, he has two shiny top 2-year-old molars to show for it. Grumpy and in pain or not, though, some behavior is just unacceptable! By the end of the day I was pretty worn out from comforting, mediating between kids etc. and Mark and I were sitting at the table having a snack together (the Tylenol I gave him for the teething pain was finally working!). All of a sudden, Mark put his hand on mine, looked me in the eyes, and said with complete sincerity "Momma, I'm sorry I sad and mad today! Now I feel better, I do better." It completely blew me away! I was so touched I almost started crying! My sweet sweet boy had just volunteered an apology to me for the first time for misbehaving (an abstract concept, as opposed to apologizing for hurting me accidently, which he is good at apologizing for). I gave him a big kiss and thanked him for apologizing, and told him that I forgive him and love him. Our little "moment" easily made up for those grumpy days!

Today my usual "sunny boy" was back in full force, jumping off the couch with Holden, Ezra, and Tori, running around, laughing, playing. Today was one of those days that made me think that I could easily "do" the "4 kid family thing"... although having 3 boys age 2 is biologically very improbable. =o)

For those of you who are wondering what the heck I am talking about, I watch a few of my friends' kids during the week: Ezra (2) and Tori (4) are siblings, and Holden (2). The three boys were all born within weeks of each other, and are great little buddies. Tori is a good "big sister" to the three of them. Beware though, it gets LOUD around here when the kids are running around together. But they have a lot of fun, and it is good for Mark (well, good for all of them, actually) to play with other kids. Today we started out playing with cars and jumping off the couch (the kids kept themselves busy playing together for a good hour!). Then we had snack-time, then did some drawing together, and then we went outside. The kids have found a spot of dry sandy soil next to the deck that they have pounded and dug into a "sand-box" which provides hours of good play time. Dusty/sandy dirt + sweaty playing kids does result in a good bit of mess, but that's what bathtubs and washing machines are for. Ezra and Tori were picked up at noon. Mark had had a bucket of dirt dumped on his head, so I actually stripped him down on the deck (Mark's comment "Coldy coldy cold!" and then sent him running to the bathroom while I took Holden's shoes and coat off and dusted him off a bit before bringing him inside. Mark and Holden took a bath (had to replace the water because it turned so brown from all the dirt in Mark's hair). Lunch, more drawing, playtime in the living room, then nap time after Holden was picked up. On Mondays we sometimes watch a movie together if the kids get too riled up, but the other days are "TV free" - not that TV is all bad, but I was raised without it, so always feel a bit guilty using "perfectly good playtime" to put kids in front of the tube.

Anyway. Here are two pictures of Mark that Ben took with his cell phone - just so I don't get any complaints about posting another picture-free blog post. Between watching the kids and unpacking things have just been too busy to take pictures of Mark...

Mark and Merlin. This is the world's most forgiving kitty. In his nearly 8 years of life he has never bitten anyone, and only scratched if someone was either trying to bathe him or was clipping his nails. People keep commenting on how "HUGE" Merlin is... to me he still seems small, because the other two cats I had in Pullman (now adopted by one of my professors) were 16 lbs each of pure loooong muscle! Merlin only weighs in at 10 lbs... the fur sure makes up for it though! My auntie Therese watched Merlin for nearly 6 months (THANK YOU THERESE!) until we moved into our house... it's nice to have our kitty back!

Mark taking a walk to the playground with Dad. Ben and Mark like taking walks after Ben gets home. Sometimes I come along, sometimes I enjoy staying home for a bit of solitude. Today I cooked some yummy dinner while they were out.