5 years ago, today would have been 6/6/6

First, I have a camera. The battery is rechargeable, but that does not stop me from letting it die for weeks at a time. So pictures for this post are non-existent. I can assure you that my children are cuter than ever.

Child #1: Talking in words people (more importantly, I) can understand.
Example: Today, he needed a nap. Eyes were red from the little fingers that rubbed them, cheese was the only thing he deemed edible, and tantrums would not stop. Also, the end of Mickey Mouse (the hot dog song?) made him think life was over. So, I forced him to take a nap.

Now, while trying to coax child #1 into a state of dreamland bliss, I offered to tell him a story. This was after the 175,493 actual book stories, and after the 20,394 songs, all "I'm so glad when daddy comes home" and "I love to see the temple"

So I say, "Do you want me to tell you a story"

Mitchell says "I do!"

Me, having the creativity drained from my brain via sinus infection, says "What should it be about?"

"fishies. blue"

"So, once upon a time, there was a blue fish. And he loved to play. And one day, he met an orange fish. And they played together."

Interrupting Mitchell says "play?"

"No, the fishies played. But you have to take a nap."

"NO NAP!"

"Anyway, so the blue fish's mother told him he needed to take a nap"

"NO!"

"and so he crawled into his bed, and shut his eyes, and when he woke up, he played with the orange fish again"

the end. that's a nice story, yes?

Mitchell looked at me with a glare that only he and his father can produce. It's a funny looking glare, but when I laugh, neither Mitchell, nor his father, think that's really funny. So I suppressed my humor and kissed Mitch, and said "good night" to which Mitchell mumbled (he can't be old enough for mumbling) "no nap" whilst rolling his eyes. Lovely.

Child #2: Decides to be absolutely terrified of everything.
Example: Mitchell finally fell asleep, and Ali promptly woke up. I needed to shower, so I plopped her on the bathroom floor with a few choice toys. Today, she started screaming, and crawled up and nose-dived into the shower. Still screaming, I took her diaper (now soaked) off and sat her in the tub with me. She still screamed. The water terrified her. I had to hold her away from the water the entire time, plus make eye contact, because every time I tilted my head back the screaming would start again. Things that also scare child #2: the vacuum, mitchell in general, the washer/dryer, nightmares, anything that looks different, and mom's cough. I feel like this might be a long summer. Also, nothing could scare her last week.

Child #1: Now sings!
Example: Colbie Calliat's "I do", "I am a child of God", and does a little "dum dum dum" along with the mozart played from Child #2's baby swing (that Ali never enjoyed, but Mitchell figured out the buttons)

Mitchell was on a "terrorize baby goo goo!!!" rant for a month or so. It felt like forever. Pinching her in the car, growling at her while she slept (yes! why!?), and throwing blankets on top of her were the biggest and most popular offenders. This weekend though, he realized that she's not as annoying as he thought, and has been yelling at me to set her down "play? goo goo play?" and trying to pick her up. They've dumped the toy box over and sat for hours humoring each other. This is nice. I love watching them play together. Mitchell will build a tower Temple out of blocks and let goo goo hold a few blocks. And laugh when she knocks it over. So adorably cute. If I could make this stage verses the terrorizing one last longer, I would.