The boys are sure requiring my full attention with their "squabbling" as Lola says. (Reference; our favorite show, "Charlie and Lola" with the most charming brother and sister.) George is having a hard time with Oliver lately. Oliver is very vocal all the time and let's just be honest; whiny. We are trying to help him use his words. I remember this stage with George too where they kind of yell when they want something and do their short, loud, cry. But it is even harder when I have George reacting to it as well. It ish ard to know hte best way to approach it sometimes.
Tonight, when we were at TCBY after a really fun time at Jump Planet, we were surprised when George and Oliver were sitting together at this little plastic picnic table for kids, and George came and sat with us and left Oliver there and when Oliver wanted to come sit with me (to eat my ice cream, I might add... he LOVES ice cream and always wants more no matter how much he has had) George moved back to the picnic table. There is something in the air with him and Oliver, Robby wonders if he is having a hard time with Oliver beginning to be more of a peer and maybe needs to reestablish what it means to be his brother as he continues to get older. But it has just been lots of episodes such as this lately where he just wants to be away from Oliver. And it is the fisrt we have seen this from him.
Anyway, the triumph of the day was definitely this morning when George and Oliver were not getting along, they wanted the same toy (surprise, surprise) and it resulted in George telling me that he wanted to be by himself without Oliver. I was getting dressed in my closet when George came in to be with me, I left and he decided to shut the door for some alone time. About 5 minutes later he came out and said, "I have decided to be nice, Oliver, I am so sorry for being grumpy." And as they continued to play for about 20 more minutes George repeated 3 more times sporadically, crouching down at his level, "I am so sorry I was grumpy with you Oliver." We could not believe it. We were pretty impressed. And so tonight as he kept moving away from Oliver, I tried to remember this morning when I felt like he was so aware of the way he should be and doing what it took to get there. It is really crazy being a parent and trying to know how much to help and when to step back and not force things. It sure is great to see them make choices on their own and I think you just want that for them so much that it feels pretty great when they do it! He is a good kid. I need to remember this and just embrace these moments where he shines. I think as a mom it is easy to look at the 4 really hard things that happened (or more) rather than focusing on the really impressive moments.
Well, I spoiled the punch line with my title, but it was just so funny! We were at our favorite pizza place here, called Pagliacci last weekend, and Robby was telling the boys how his Dad could wiggle his ears. George immediately chimed in with confidence, "I can wiggle my ears!" Robby and I both looked at each other giving that look of "oh ya, George," trying to be supportive. When he really began to wiggle his ears. First of all, that is so cool that he could wiggle his ears. And second of all, even cooler he knew he could wiggle his ears! We couldn't stop laughing about it. It was so cute. He was really quite happy with his new found ability, or at least his newly announced ability. Who knows how he knew he could do it! But man, it was funny.
