Catching Up

      Go go go!  Thus is life with two kiddos.  Always going and always busy!  It only seems to slow down a little when I'm sleeping, until my alarm goes off at 4:38am each morning, and then we go go go again.
      Here's a little diddle about Bridger.  He is turning into such a boy!  In many ways, including the gross habits.  I don't know where he picks these things up.  I got two "Hey Mom, look at me!"'s in one day.  The first was when we were driving "Hey Mom!  Look at me!" I turn to see Bridger showing off with both index fingers up both nostrils.  Lovely.  The second "Hey Mom! Look at me!" was at home, when Bridger comes bounding 'round the corner blowing on his upper arm making farting noises.  How he learns these things?  I sure don't know.  I didn't teach him.
      He pulls the rod off our blinds and uses it like a gun. "I want to shoot my gun!"  So then I direct him to shoot his toy chicken.  When Devin is around he is always saying "I'm gonna wrestle you!" and then he attempts to tackle daddy.  I remember having a discussion/debate in an English class in college whether these things are learned traits or come by nature.  I'm gonna switch my argument and say its nature.
      Bridger got a haircut.  It was time.  His hair seems to grow rather quickly and he always seems to be sporting the shaggy hair or a mullet.  I mentioned a few times that he needed a cut, and without me begging or pleading, Devin took matters into his own hands, and did more than just the little trim up top, he buzzed the mullet all the way off.  It was the first time using the buzzer on Bridger too and he wasn't too scared of it.  He did great!

      "Wanta watch a movie?" is a common phrase heard at our house.  He went from having no interest to wanting it all the time.  I try to limit him to 30 minutes a day, though there have been a few days when I've had many projects going and I've extended that time.  I blame his nonverbal cues and grunts to "Shawn the Sheep" (a wordless movie that Devin likes to watch with him).  I usually make him watch "Blues Clues" because it has some educational value to it.  His pick though is always "MegaMind".  I don't know why he has such interest in it, but he found it among our DVD's and he always brings that one to me.  It's bizarre.  He just really likes it.  I thought about trying to make him into a little MegaMind for Halloween; paint him blue and stick him in an orange jail outfit, but that would probably be too complicated for me.  He'd get a kick out of it though.
      "OH C'MON!" Is my favorite phrase from him.  It's just how he says it, with a raising crescendo on "Oh" and descending on "C'mon".  "That'd be fun" is also among his most said phrases.  And every airplane he sees he says "That's Grandma's airplane! ... and Katey's and Amy's..." and then he goes down the list of everyone that has ever come to see him on an airplane.  He can pretty much say anything he wants now.  He is a good talker.
      When I put him down for his nap it will often take him an hour before he can settle down and fall asleep.  While he is locked in his room I hear him saying "The Pledge of Allegiance", singing nursery songs, reading books, and having make-believe conversations with himself.  I love it.  It is so cute to listen to him talk, I might have to record him in there sometime.

playing games on grandpa's lap

 
      Bridger went to grandma and grandpa Sorensen's house for a week.  He loved it.  I don't think he even missed us much.  He went to the Bear Lake cabin, he went fishing and on four-wheeler rides, he chased the chickens around my parents house and spent the entire time being completely spoiled.  (He must have helped gather chicken eggs while he was gone?  When we went to the grocery store I picked up some eggs and he said "baby chicks!")

      He was only on his second week of potty training when he left so I was nervous for my parents and wondered if they knew what they were getting themselves into.  He didn't have any accidents the whole week he was gone and my mom said he kept his diaper dry every night!  My little champ.  Since coming home he sleeps in underwear and during the day he goes all on his own, I only go in to help him wash his hands and make sure he puts his pants back on.
      I figured I'd get all my projects done while he was gone, but the time slipped away from me, and all my projects are still waiting, though I felt like I was running at an almost frantic pace.  I was able to stock my freezer and get lots of errands run and clean my house.   It was almost a relief when he came home so I could relax a little from my to do/ project list. 
      We missed him a lot too.  We went on a ward camp out that weekend and Devin and I kept saying how fun it would be if Bridger were with us.   So the next weekend I talked Devin into doing a family camp out in the Shenandoah's with Bridger. (Those pictures to come in a later post).
      I've made it through the first three weeks of teaching Tornado Toddler classes at the gym.  I'll be honest, with everything factored in, that first week was terrible!  I wondered what I had gotten myself into.  I'll spare you the details, but I learned that most toddlers are not as obedient, attentive, or able as my Bridger.  I think I've figured it out better and I really like the kids and teaching the class now.  It is great to get paid (and have a gym membership) for playing with Bridger and his friends!
     Myra sadly, doesn't love the gym as much.  She goes into the "baby room" in the child center while I teach.  She has stranger awareness and cries after I hand her off.  Poor girl.
      I always tell my friends what a good baby she is because she is so good for me at home. She is always happy, she takes great naps and she sleeps through the night. I don't think babies could come any better. She has the cutest little giggle that makes my day. But in my experience, in leaving her, she is never as good for anyone else. So I don't know if any of my VA friends believe me because at church she struggles too.

(she always laughs the hardest when I do the big inward gasp, just ignore me)

    Today Myra turned 8 months old!  It is hard to believe though I can't hardly remember life without her.  She is a ray of sunshine in our family.  She knows I'm her mom and has started saying "Ma ma ma mm ma".  I bet she'll be crawling soon.  She has started scooting backwards, which is the first step to moving forward!

Bridger loves to hold Myra's hand!