Talking

One of John's favorite things lately is "talking." He'll lay down next to Audrey with his face inches from hers and just jibber-jabber. Today, instead of sleeping during naptime, he is just practicing his talking. Here's a transcript of what I am hearing: 

Audrey dirty highchair dirty

Mommy? mommy? 

my monkey. no monkey no monkey no mokey no monkey no monkey no monkey no. 

backing. pray? uh huh. two eight two eight two eight. bye. 

help. help help. have bear. (while reaching to stuffed bear on floor) no. get him. no. 

out! mommy. mommy. 

(singing) boobooboboobooboo. nonononononononono. hmhmhmhmhm. 

my. (inaudible, lays down) 

in there. in there. in there. 

monkey. 

see bandaid. see bandaid. (singing) see bandaid. (whining) see bandaid. 

my bay (?) my bed. my bed. my bed my bed my bed. 

a boob. have a penis. have a penis. 

singing) mommy mommy mommy. mom mom mom mom mom. 

more chappy more chappy more chappy. more 

Audrey play. ok. play play play play. 

more. my choo-choo. my choo-choo. my choo-choo. 

Mommy? mommy? 

(farting sounds with mouth. jumps around in crib)

bebleblebeble. (whines)

mommy mommy out out bye-bye bye-bye 

mommy mommy mommy mommy

At this point Pearl (the 5-year-old I babysit who was sleeping in my room) woke up anad snuck into his room. He says "Hi" and she whispers to him quietly. Soon Sam joins. 

Pearl: "You have two blankies? I have two of the same blankies. One of them is too small. Are these your bow-ties?" (um hm) "Is that your baby? (hm hm) I like her little barrett. Can I sit on this chair?" (out out out). "What animal do you want in there? Does it make you a little less scared if you have a animal?" (out out out). 

She leaves the room and peaks around the corner at me on the couch but pretends not to be there. John starts to whine. Pearl sneaks back into my room and lays down again. John whines some more. 

Ok, I'll stop transcribing and go get him out of his crib. 

After I picked John up, he kept asking about Pearl (who was pretending to be asleep). We stood outside the door and peeked into the room. She quickly rolled over when the door opened and said "I'm still sleepy. Does he want to sleep with me? He can lay on his daddy's side." So John and I proceeded to crawl into bed with her and have a nice half hour cuddle while Miles (Pearl's 3 year old brother) and Audrey kept sleeping. 

Then we made bread together. It was a good day.  

Fireworks

Fireworks have never been my favorite thing in the world, but I never really minded them until today. 

Have you ever tried putting a noise-sensitive baby to sleep while a fireworks show is going on and every other house on the street thinks it's their job to add to it? It's next to impossible. 

Last night was July 3. My 2-year-old woke up 3 times screaming bloody murder because he was terrified of the "booms" that kept happening. Since when is it ok to light fireworks the day before and after the holiday? Tonight we watched the neighbor light off some small scale fireworks in his front yard before putting John to bd. I explained to him that there would be lots of fireworks, but he didn't have to be scared because it was just fireworks. He quietly exclaimed "boom" with a serious look on his face. 

Sam is terrified of thunder. He hides in our room, the centermost room of the house, between the bed and the wall whenever a storm rolls in. For him, fireworks are like a storm on crack. Our room is no longer sufficient protection. He has taken to curling up under the desk in the basement when Eric is sitting there or hiding in Jenna's room when we are upstairs. 

I am currently listening to the baby monitor to see whether or not my next-to-impossible mission has been accomplished. I hear the high-pitch squeal as a prequel to another "boom." Just as expected, she's fussing again. And now it is turning into a full on cry. Mission impossible, here I come again. 

I am incredibly grateful that we live in a free country. These fireworks are certainly a reminder of that. If we lived in a war zone, I would never get to sleep. Thank you to all of those who have lived through sleepless nights of much less innocent explosions in order to bring us the independence and freedom that we celebrate today. 

The only thing I'm not clear on is how blowing off explosions of light is a celebration of our independence. The neighbor, however, is completely on board; he's at it again...