Layne-isms

What a special little boy. He's done so many things lately that have just made us laugh. First, Santa brought him a train table for Christmas. It has been hilarious watching him navigate this new toy. He's very anal about what trains you push where, when and in what direction. If you get it wrong, he says, "no, no, no!" And, Thomas and Rheneas are his favorites. It's always Percy that he tries to give away. The great thing is that it's like Christmas all over again everytime we come home from somewhere or he comes down in the morning. He loudly proclaims, "train table!" I'm glad to see him play with something that sparks his imagination in such a creative way. His favorite phrase these days is "Oh my goodness" and the other night he was trying to pick out which book to read at bedtime and just sat there in front of his bookcase for a few minutes and finally said, "let me see." It sounded like something an adult would say. It's just always something funny with him! Tonight I was undressing him for his bath and when I got him down to just his onesie undershirt he started talking about a "car". I thought this was just a random, two-year-old thought until I unsnapped his onesie and out fell a toy car. This just tickled him to death! Then he took the car and put it down the front of shirt. My best guess is that he was trying to hide the car at daycare and figured that down his shirt was the best place. Who knows how long it had been hidden down in his clothes! Everyday he becomes more and more of a treasure. We're so lucky to be the parents of such a thoughtful, empathetic, sweet natured little boy.

IMAX - dare we take Layne?

Christmas Eve, Brad and I were both off, so we got the bright idea of taking Layne to see an IMAX movie since it's rainy and windy and we don't know what else to do. We've never taken him to a movie before, so we have no idea what to expect. We get in the theatre and he sees everyone else has a small box of popcorn, so now that's what he's fixed on and wants a box of his own. We didn't know they sold concessions and we only had $1.30, just shy of the $2 (rip off) small box that held maybe 24 kernals. No popcorn for Layne, so he chowed on some gummy snacks. Please, would the movie just start?? The lady made her obligatory IMAX announcements and the lights dimmed. Ahhh, let the fun begin...or maybe not. Lights down, Layne starts screaming, "Turn light on. Turn light on!" and "I might get out of here, I might get out of here." We were dying it was so funny. We were just about to pack up in hopes of receiving a refund on our barely-used tickets when Santa came on the screen and Layne stopped in his tracks. No more tears, no more squirming, just undivided attention toward the 8-story IMAX version of the North Pole wonder. What an invention! The kid barely batted an eye for 45 minutes as the movied played. We were so proud of him! It was a good family event that will soon be repeated for Santa-worthy good behavior!

Road Rage

I usually don't let the attitudes of other drivers affect me too much; road rage is overrated. However, today was an exception. I was driving down Highway 51 today on my way to pick up Layne from daycare, and apparently I was driving just a little too slowly for the man behind me. He wasn't tailing me too closely that I noticed (but somewhere along there I admit I was looking at my phone), but when the road opened up to four lanes he quickly pulled into the lane to my right and was noticably shaking his head. Fortunately for me, because I wanted to explore his disdain further, we were approaching a red light. As I pulled up next to him at the red light, he was still shaking his head, so I very neutrally shrugged my shoulders, lifted my hands and mouthed, "What?" (It would have been too forward to have rolled down my window.) To my surprise, he mouthed this back: "You were going 45 in a 55!" Not knowing what else to do, and not having given it in a while, I raised the middle finger on my right hand and pumped my hand to give the message extra emphasis. I know, not very ladylike and not in the spirit of the season, but it made me really mad that this guy was upset at me for traveling slowly. I mean, really? Then after that I took great pleasure in his inability to pass another slow driver ahead of him. I wonder if he shook his head at them, too?

I give up!

We got a laugh out of Layne this evening. It was bedtime and his new act of defiance is to quickly crawl out of bed, saying "no", as soon as we place him in the bed and tell him it's time to go night night. So, tonight, we decided we'd just ignore it. If he got out of bed and followed us to the door, then so be it. We were not going to give his behavior the attention he craved. He cried hysterically and Brad wanted to go back in right away. I said, nope, let's ride this one out a little longer. About 15 minutes later, when all had been quiet for a while, I went upstairs to check on the little guy. Not only had he climbed back into bed on his own, he also had tucked himself in. I swear, it was the cutest thing I'd ever seen. I was proud of him for self soothing, and I was proud of us for not giving in to his incessent crying. We're glad to put his newfound independence to the test!

Funny moment on the couch this evening. Brad and I were sitting with Layne as he watched Thomas Train and the baby started moving wildly in my belly. I told Brad to watch my belly, which was moving in such a way that you would think she was leading step aerobics in there. We were commenting on how disgusting it really is - the reality that there is another human being inside of me is sometimes overwhelming! And, kind of freaky. Anyways, we were so engrossed with watching her movements that we didn't notice that Layne, who was sitting right next to Brad, had pulled down his diaper enough to pull out his ding a ling - and he's just playing away. It hit me at that moment that I really have a little boy on my hands - and, at that, one who has now discovered his fun parts. What a ride we're in for! Never a dull moment in parenting!

New to Blogging

I'm not new to writing, but I'm very new to blogging. I hope to use this medium as a way to share developments with our family and children for all of our close friends and family to enjoy. If I'm breaking any blogging rules of etiquette, please advise me! Ha ha.