Michael...

Before I begin, let me apologize for the formatting mess that are my blog posts. For some reason, upon publishing, Blogger has been taking all the spaces out of the post. So I have been putting annoying little dashes to hold the spaces. Sorry. But it looks and feels better than one gigantic paragraph. Onward!



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Oh...how Michael makes my heart ache. Maybe it is the age or maybe it is just him...but often I just look at him during the day and want to just squeeze him and love on him. He is just the sweetest thing ever. And I really hope it isn't just his age...partly because that means he still has the potential to be a bi-polar crazy man (I know...he will be)...but also partly because this is how old Lily was when she became a big sister. So I know I didn't get to enjoy her during the "golden" times as much as I could have.

But if I had the chance, would I give up that time with her again? Unequivocally YES. Because I got this in exchange:

Don't get me wrong. Michael has his faults. He eats EVERYTHING...and I'm not just talking food. I've never had such a mouthy kid and I've never had so many choking hazards in my house. Not a good combo. He has a radar for trouble...yesterday at playgroup, I turned around and he was purposefully wrapping a phone cord around his neck. WTH?

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Okay, so to give you an idea of how wonderfully sweet and cute and troublesome Mikey is, all the following stories came from yesterday. Just one day!

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--When Michael woke up, I got him dressed and put him down so that I could pick out Andrew's clothes for the day. He found Goodnight Gorilla on the nightstand and sat on the floor to read it. For the next 20 minutes...I kid you not...TWENTY minutes he read that book...with minimal input from me. I had to drag him away to go check on the other savages wrestling downstairs, so I don't know how long he would have stayed there. And it was so cute I almost cried. He would point to something on the page and make an appropriate word or sing-songy sound like we do when we read it. Like every page somebody was in bed, he'd point and say, "Nah"...his word for night-night. When the zookeepers wife looks up in surprise because there are animals in her bedroom, Mikey would quickly look up and grin in anticipation of my face. He'd move his arm up next to his head and make a noise for the elephant and growl for the lion. Love it.

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--We went to the park for a playdate with one of Andrew's pre-school friends. It was COLD, but fun. Michael had a blast as usual, except for one point where he was climbing up on a picnic table...despite being pulled down 50 times...he fell head first under the table, cracking his head on the concrete. I snuggled and comforted the poor injured baby, and after 1 minute of crying, he wiggled down and...you guessed it...started to climb up again. Not the sharpest tool in the shed.

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--When we got home from the park, I told Andrew he had to quickly take a shower because it was picture day. Michael immediately looked at me and said rather hopefully, "Bah?" his word for bath. Smartie.

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--When we picked up Andrew from the bus stop, we went immediately to our evening playgroup. I know, I know, evening playgroups are weird, but the mothers from Andrew playgroup and I really like each other, and with our kids all in school now, we can't meet in the morning. So dinner playgroups are our only option at this point. Anyhoo, we get to the house and Michael toddlers off to begin finding all choking and death hazards available. He:

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*Got a plate from the play kitchen and put 3 pieces of chalk on it. And then proceeded to eat it. At least he's getting more civilized about his chalk habit, right? When I scolded him from across the room, "NO EAT, MICHAEL", he threw a piece on the floor and then yelled back at me, "Garbly goop garbly goop garbly goop!" He told me!

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*Pushed stroller around with baby. When he looked up and found me watching him, he garbly gooped at me and brought me his baby. I asked if I could give her a kiss, and he planted a big one on the baby doll's head before offering it to me. Then he said, "Nah" and went and put her in a crib.

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*They had a teeny tiny trampolene with a handle on it. Do I need to tell the story, or can you just picture it?

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* I mentioned the telephone cord thing, right? Did I mention he tried to do it again later, except this time I caught him dragging it up onto the trampolene. Yikes.

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*He loved picking up all the cute Halloween decorations and opening the tv cabinet and crawling into the fireplace. Usually I was right there to stop him, but while I was serving Lily some dinner, he got a porcelein candle holder (pumpkin shaped...cute) and shattered it on the kitchen floor.

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Let me say...doesn't this sound like the most monstrous child ever? Except that he is so sweet and endearing and forgivable. My friends are so wonderful and amazing...not only do they accept his destructive and suicidal tendencies, they willingly and eagerly help me keep an eye on him, never judge me for my lack of helicopter parenting (or at least not to my face), and always keep a good humor around me. Playgroups are so enjoyable only because I have such amazing friends. THEIR kids don't eat sponges from the doctor kit(M) or throw screaming fits because they didn't get a cookie(L) or cry hysterically to go home because they are emotionally unstable (A). But I never feel embarrassed about my lack of parenting skills, because when things like this happen, they just laugh along with me and give Mikey or Lily a cuddle and we go on about our way. Seriously, how lucky am I?

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I digress...this is supposed to be about Mikey. I guess what I want to remember the most about this age is that Michael is incredibly capable of finding trouble and making trouble, and yet you forgive him instantly because he is so happy and cute and lovable. He is easy-going and resilient and pleasant. And cute...oh my God...so cute.

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Love him...