the boys

I decided that for Lent I am going to try to maintain a positive disposition and try to find more patience for my boys. They are genuinely good kids and they behave pretty well, but they are still kids. Like all kids they get rambunctious and willful at times, and I find that I can have a pretty short fuse for them (especially at the end of the day). Henry (almost 2 years old) can be particularly difficult because he's at the point where he knows what he wants but can't always communicate it... and sometimes he can communicate what he wants but cannot have it and he doesn't understand that ("yes, I understand that you want a pancakes but we are having chicken for dinner tonight). Then he gets angry and throws his food, cup, etc on the floor. Not my favorite stage. And yet, yesterday I was sitting on the floor with William and Henry kept coming up to hug me from behind. Then he crawled in my lap and gave me a big old open mouth sloppy drooly kiss (the kind where you need a napkin to recover). I loved it! So I alternate with being frustrated with him and completely smitten by him. I guess this is what its all about though. William (almost four years old) is proof to me that our kids do listen to us, since he constantly uses our expressions. Its hysterical when I ask him to do something and he says, "no problem" or when he tells Henry he's an eating machine. So fun! Just by the questions William
asks ("Mommy, what animal made those tracks in the snow?) and the stories he tells ("I dreamt that the dinosaurs were driving the race cars and they went so fast!") I see him really flourishing before my eyes. And he can write his name. Officially. For a while he needed help writing it, but now he can do it on his own. I am really proud of my boys and I am truly blessed by these little guys.