So Totally G-I-F-T-E-D

Okay, I am so ready to identify and make fun of giftedness (is that a word?) in Nils that I have gone to new extremes... As you know, Nils knows the sounds of his letters. No big deal, he's just parroting a Leap Frog song from one of Jay's DVDs. But he was playing with his bottle and kept saying a, a, a. And I looked and he was pointing to an a! I then asked him what another letter was (n) and he couldn't tell me. He just kept saying a, a, a. So he was just making sounds, like any other toddler!

Why would I make fun of it? Okay, if he were truly a genius I wouldn't. But so many parents are willing to believe that the sun rises and sets over their children that you truly wonder if they need their eyes/ears/reality checked. We are happy that we have two normal, happy boys. Okay, one loves pink and Abba and the other is a drooling daredevil, but what's not to love? I once called Jay average and I swear I heard one mom in the group gasp. So, truly gifted is a (ha ha) gift. But normal and healthy is even a greater gift.

Bicker, Banter, Bump

Okay, I paraphrased the title from Linda's Blog...

But I am so tired of prying one boy's hands off of the other's throat, toys, hair.... you name it. When can I expect that they at least begin to work it out themselves? I know they can't yet since Nils can't even really speak. But, man, they sure are rough. What I meant is that Nils is rough on Jay. And Jay certainly can be overly sensitive.

Aaahhh... a moment of relative peace!

The Boy Wonder

Ha ha ha! N knows the sounds up to y.... Whe the only letter doesn't know is z, I cannot tell you. I think it's to annoy me. You know how I like things complete and in order. And he has his first word in both English and German: digger or Bagger. It's an excavator for those of you who are a bit more technical. As a kid, we called them steam shovels. So no Abba worries for him. At least not just yet.

We re-arranged the living room yesterday. It took about four hours, but somehow there is a lot more space than before. And we don't have to sit so close to the TV anymore.

Oops, gotta run. Nils is beating up Jay again.

TGIF

The kids are finally over whatever had them sick in the first place. Well, almost. Jay is fine, just a little more tired than usual. Nils had to be carried all week. For a newbie, okay. But for a 13kg (28.6 lbs), it's not so easy. But it's Friday, and a long weekend too(Pentecost).

Anyway, I wanted to break the news that Nils is the most gifted child since Mozart. (Those of you who know me, know the sarcasm in that...) He knows that the a says aah and the b says buh and so on until g. At g he got distracted. It's only because he gets his older brother's TV shows as well. I mean, the kid doesn't even know what the alphabet is or even the ABC song.

As for Jay, he decided that Abba's Waterloo is his new favorite song. And his friend Emma left her pink handbag with hearts on it- he says it's now his (while carrying it around). Are we worried? Ask me again when Waterloo is still his favorite song, he's still carrying pink handbags, and he's thirteen.

Crash!

Jay fell asleep standing yesterday. Take a look---

Sleep! Sick! Sleep? SLEEP!

What a weekend! Thursday was a holiday, so we had friends visit us Wednesday night and stay over. So of course we went out and, therefore, had less sleep that night.

Thursday, Jay (who is never sick) had such a bad stomachache that he stayed on the sofa all day, crying over the pain. He rarely cries (I've unwittingly drilled that out of him because he would wake Nils too often). And when the pain migrated from his bellybutton to his right side, I got nervous that he had appendicitis. It was only that I felt like I would look like an irrational mother freaking out over gas in the ER that made me stay home. Another sleepless night.

Friday Jay was all better (phew!). Then Nils got his first big fever: 40C/104F. He didn't even want to read or play animals. He just wanted to sit on my or Michael's lap and rest like a rag doll. He was in and out of sleep all night too, so another sleepless night.

Saturday morning Jay threw up a little on me. Later on, both decided to have fevers and Jay decided to have an upset stomach again and threw up on me again. I am running out of clothes and have not really had a chance to do any laundry.

Basically, we are ready for some sleep! They seem better, but then again, they seemed better yesterday too. Sleep, please!

Don't I sometimes wish...

that it was this easy to contain my kids and the destruction that they leave behind in their wake??

Instead, I get this....