A Red Head and a Sleepy Head

I love my bird feeder. My brother got it for me for Christmas, and I have it hanging so it's in view when I'm standing at my kitchen sink. I find myself looking at it often...I'm obsessed with it. I love watching birds...they are so fascinating. I want them all here, in my yard, feasting, drinking. Hey, I provide. Feed them, and they will come... Lately, I believe deer have been eating every last seed at night. I can  fill it up after work, see a few birds nibble here and there,  and by morning the seed is gone. Gone, I tell ya! The suet cakes are still there...and today, for the first time, a red-bellied woodpecker came to peck. I've had hairy or downy woodpeckers, but never the red-bellied. With a red head. Confusing!

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Ethan's bedtime ritual...well, has changed. And it's ok. It works for him to have his closet light on and show me tractors in his little book. But tonight, he was awake longer than I thought in his little bed after I walked out...and later I heard his barefeet pitter-pattering around on the wood floors upstairs...(just love that sound), which meant he was wide-awake, and not in bed. I gave him a few minutes, because I knew exactly what he was up to. He crawled into our bed, shimmied himself perfectly under the covers, and laid down and drifted off to sleep. In my spot.

No flash used, just my one-bulb closet light, and no baby toddler was woken up by the picture-taking.

It's late.
Off to bed.
Sweet dreams!

Baby Ofay

Ethan is attached to this newborn Cabbage Patch Kid I had when I was much younger in my years. He totes "Baby" all over the house, to grandma's, in all its nakedness glory, and will sleep with it. I don't mind...not one bit. It's cute, actually. For now. We named the baby "Baby Ofay" (read: Oh-fay), since that is how Ethan pronounced his name. But now he says "Ethan", and I missed hearing "Ofay", so that is how Baby became Ofay.

So here is Ethan giving Baby Ofay his nukie this morning. Awww...

Then he realized Ofay would have nothing to do with nukie, so he popped it back into his own mouth.

When does it stop?

As the momma of two boys...one two and the other 5....when does it stop? The hitting, the pinching, the times where the oldest thinks "you're playing nice and I'm going to walk by you and take something or push you", the times where the youngest just wants to be close to his older brother so he lays right on top of him? I see magical times where they get along so well...I think 'this is it. Here we go...the start to being friends.' Then it starts all over again. I know it's in them, I've witnessed it. I just want more of it!

Here we are...tonight. They were goofing off on the couch...and I had Ethan say sorry to Austin.



Then Ethan pretended to be asleep.
Stinker!

Whole Wide World

Love....