"C'mon Chase" seems to be the catch phrase I have been hearing all around the house these days. And I have to say, that it is a relief that the boys are actually playing together more and fighting less - I hope it lasts! Landon has come a long way with his patience for Chase (for an almost 4 year old!) Last night, I was changing out the kitchen garbage bag when the boys grabbed the can, dragged it into the living room, and placed it upside down. They then decided it would be fun to climb up the bean bags, then on top of the garbage can, and steadied themselves before they took a gigantic leap, only to find themselves hitting the floor and rolling. But I wasn't going to stop the madness when they were talking about taking turns and giggling hysterically!
Landon and Chase have been such the cute brothers lately. Landon has been trying so hard to help Chase out of his frustration which also can be a challenge because it seems like lately Chase can become very frustrated, very quickly. But even so, Landon will try to distract Chase or say, "Here Chase, I can help you." And off Chase follows like a little puppy following his mama. Lately, if you tell Chase no, he stares you down and spits. We have been trying very hard to ignore it. Today Landon asked me, "Ignore means to not talk, right?" Right.
I have also been trying to recognize both of their "great" behavior and praise them for it. Last night we were coming home after having dinner at this great bbq place for Grandpa's birthday. The conversation went like this: Me: Thank you so much for behaving so well at the restaurant. I really appreciate when you boys behave.
Pause....
Landon: We didn't go under the table, right mommy?
Me: No, you didn't.
Pause....
Landon: We didn't put our feet on the table either, right mommy?
Me: No, you were perfect.
Pause....
Landon: And our bottoms....
Pause...
Me: Your bottoms what?
Landon: We didn't take our bottoms under the table either, right mommy?
Me: Right.
What a glorious day! Okay, sounds a bit cheesy but I am definitely a sunshine, warm weather, gal. It makes me happy... it gives me energy... which makes me eat up these 70 degree days! In fact, I was contemplating laying out for a while, like the old days in Oswego when the high would be 68, and the sun made it feel hotter and we would sunbathe on the roof! (Yes mom, I said the roof!) Instead, we took the boys to the park, which they loved, and for 2 whole hours we made it without tantrums, teasing, or crying! Well, almost... until Chase pinched his fingers in the automatic window which lead to a loud bloody scream! After close inspection and wedging his finger between two mandarin orange cups (I was looking for the coldest thing we had), the finger is not broken, but definitely swollen and will probably hurt for a while. Poor baby Chase - he was a trooper!
We ventured up to Blowing Rock, NC for the weekend. It was absolutely gorgeous! We stayed in an amazingly beautiful inn, The Inn at Crestwood, and in an even more fabulous room, the Grandfather Suite (courtesy of Verizon's awesome discount!) and drove up an incredibly windy road to get to the top of Grandfather Mountain - I think Andy and I were both sweating because of the height and the sheer drop off with no guard rails. But we made it and despite the frigid temps (it was a balmy 18 degrees at the top), the boys thought the mile high swinging bridge was pretty neat. But they were even more intrigued with the ice that they could actually break into little pieces and pick up.