before there are two

It's strange to think that in a little over 2 weeks (give or take) I will have another child to take pictures of and write about on this blog. I hope I will still continue to appreciate and notice all of the special things about my firstborn that are uniquely his and I hope I will still have (and take) the time to write about them. Oh how I love this little boy. I have been feeling especially tender for him of late and you'll have to indulge me as I use this forum to document some of the more memorable things he's said/done recently. I just want to soak him all up and not forget a bit.

He has been really into playing "Chuck" with his daddy. "Dad, wet's pway Chuck!" means that he wants us to pile up the pillows and blankets on our bed and throw him into them. The pictures in this post are from a "Chuck" session we had over the weekend.

One morning last week (I guess it had to have been Saturday) G was in our room around 7:45 trying to entice J and me out of bed to play. He was jumping on us and singing songs. I was pretty groggy (I have been battling a sinus infection) and I vaguely heard G saying in a sing-song voice, "Daaad! Put your eyetacts on!" I had no idea what he was talking about until I woke up all the way and realized he was meaning "put your contacts in." I had a good laugh to myself about that.

Yesterday we had some orange juice and then later were eating clementines. G looked down at a slice of clementine in his hand and thoughtfully said, "We were drinking these! The water of these makes juice!" I thought it was pretty clever of him to think about that and put it all together in a way that I knew exactly what he meant. I love the way these little minds work and figure things out.
For family night this week we talked about King Noah, Abinadi, and Alma. G couldn't quite remember Alma's name and kept calling him "Elmo" which I found entertaining, but he was especially interested in King Noah. He wanted to hear the story over and over and kept talking about how King Noah wasn't happy because he didn't listen and he fired Abinadi and so on. We finished up the lesson and moved on, but a little while later G still must've had King Noah on his mind because he ran to the fridge, pulled out a bowl of leftover food and brought it to us proudly declaring, "Look! It's food King Noah!" The food in the bowl? Quinoa. Which, if you are a two-year-old and have no other reference for, sounds exactly like King Noah. Yes little boy, we sometimes eat food King Noah for dinner. And you happen to love it.
My husband is a busy man. He works two jobs (one of which starts at 3:30 AM), goes to school (which involves driving to Provo 4 times a week), and has a calling at church that is very time consuming (many hours on Sunday, plus 2-3 nights a week). Our time with him is precious, to say the least. G has started to rebel when he and I leave church on Sundays and his daddy has to stay. A few Sundays ago we were saying goodbye to J and I was carrying a reluctant little G down the hall toward the door. As we were getting further and further away from his beloved daddy, G yelled down the hall, "DAD! You DON'T live at the church!" I (along with a few other people in the hall) started laughing pretty hard about that because it is a sentiment that I can definitely understand myself.
G is really into classifying things as "girlish" and "boyish" and has been known to not want to drink out of a cup because it is "too girlish." And just so you are all aware, "girlish" things are pink, purple, and red and "boyish" things are blue, green, and yellow. Please do not get them confused.
He has been testing the limits of obedience more than he ever used to, and he has had to go to his room for short time-outs more often. Once we are to that point, he is very obedient and goes to his room and sits on his bed completely independently. After a few minutes he will yell, "I'm done thinking about it!" and come out and I will ask him what he thought about, he will tell me and then apologize. The other day at my parents' house he got sent to the other room for a variety of naughty behavior. When he came out this is what he said: "I thinked about throwing that thing and not picking it up and I thinked about calling Papa a buttsack." It was so hard for me not to laugh hysterically, but I kept a stoic face and managed to get out, "That's right. We don't throw things and we don't say "buttsack." Please go pick up the toy and tell Papa you are sorry." Buttsack??? Really??? Where did he get that?

He is very aware of stoplights and gets very upset if he thinks I am going when the light isn't green. He will be looking at a red light off to the side and get so concerned when I start driving. "Don't go Mama! Don't go!" If I go through a yellow light he gets equally upset and I find myself having to defend my driving to my two-year-old. I didn't expect to be dealing with a backseat driver at this point in my life as a mom, but holy cow, am I ever.
There are so many things to love about him (like how he calls pomegranates "pome-janets"), and definitely some things that test my patience and make me crazy, but I want to remember it all because I know how fast these phases go. I guess that is why people keep having more kids. I can't wait to experience all of my favorite stages all over again in another little person. Being a parent is a treasure.