Treats And Surprises

I love my boys!

Each of them made me smile this evening with something new. Aidan treated me to a subtle inside joke. I'll share it with you but it requires just a teensy bit of background. Peyson demonstrated a newly learned skill to both Marissa and me.

I'll start with Aidan. What you need to know is that I used to try to trick my parents into thinking I was asleep on the couch so they'd carry me to my bed. I got pretty good at it too, but the fun ended when they could no longer lift me. When that happened, they just left me in the living room. Well, as people say, the apple doesn't fall far from the tree!

Having missed his nightly bedtime routine, Marissa told me that Aidan was waiting for me to say goodnight to him. So I ventured down the hall (it is an adventure these days with all the toys hidden in the shadows!!) to do just that. As I stepped into his room, I couldn't tell if he was still awake or not, so I asked him. The timing was just right such that I was kneeling near his pillow at the same moment his face broke into a smile and he softly whispered, "No. I'm asleep." I smiled and kissed him on the cheek, whispering back, "Okay. Good night." It was so sweet and so funny—I had a hard time not laughing out loud right there! I have a feeling he'll be honing his sleep-acting skills as he gets older.

One would think, especially after witnessing the oldest child do it this way, that walking would follow crawling. Not so with Peyson. For him, it's climbing! I've already told you about him climbing into our armchair. Well, tonight, he climbed all the way up Marissa's legs into her lap to stand and happily slap at her face, smiling broader than the Canyon is grand. Granted, she was seated at the time, but he didn't have any help whatsoever. Marissa and I were both shocked. And then happy. We didn't get a chance to even ask for an encore—Peyson demanded a snack as his prize for a job well done and then promptly went to sleep.

The way one whispers and the other creates his own developmental patterns, I'm not sure I'm looking forward to the day they begin plotting against their dad the way only brothers can do. Then again, yes I am! I love my boys!