...since the never-ending parade of viral illnesses is well under way at our house. Poor LB, he catches everything that floats by! This is a croupy, snotty, miserable kind of thing he has now -- I want to be held. No, actually I don't. I'm hungry! Not really, actually. I'm SO tired. I refuse to sleep in any position.

The only silver lining I can see is that my little boy who is too "busy" to snuggle lately just wants to be in Mommy's lap, rocking and being sung to. I definitely have tried to enjoy that part as much as possible! On the other hand, nothing says "pleasant family discourse" more than the following summons: "Mommy, LB has snot bubbles again!" :-

LB truly misses his Daddy. I had a sitter coming Friday night so I could go to Bible study...when she knocked on the door, he sat up, spit out the bottle he was drinking and said, "Dada?" with a big smile. No, sweetie, it's not Daddy. And by the way, Daddy doesn't usually knock. :-(

He is talking up a storm now though, all sorts of sounds coming out. Today we are sure he said "Thank you (tak ooo)" when Steve brought him some blocks to play with. At other times, he appears to be channeling the late Jimmy Durante ("Aaah cha cha cha!!") He is really getting the hang of the sign language, which is resulting in calmer mealtimes as well. He loves to peek around the furniture and smile at us, which melts my heart every time!!

The recent approach to dinner has also been working for LS. The emotionless, I'm setting-the-timer tactic has worked far better than months of nagging. (Go figure!) Not only has LS been finishing her dinner every night, I swear she has grown an inch in that time. Amazing what a little nourishment will do. I imagine the potential for a piece of Halloween candy has something to do with our success as well, but hopefully by the time that's gone, this will be a habit...

BS is now fondly referred to as "shark baby." She is growing another tooth in behind her bottom teeth. The exact same thing -- big surprise -- happened to Mommy when I was little. As of yesterday, the new tooth is already moving into place and has caused another to come loose. Our first loose tooth! Somehow I thought this wouldn't happen until later, but she is almost 5. So, off to Joann's we went to pick out some fabric to make a tooth fairy pillow. LS will someday lose a tooth, so she wanted to pick hers out, too. BS made the fairly predictable choice of pale pink "princessy" satin. LS, our little rebel, went for fire engine red satin. I'm not sure why I was surprised! Hopefully the pillows will be done soon...every time I hand BS a slice of apple or something substantial, I brace myself for it...

Speaking of tooth fairy pillows, time to put some work into them while the kids are snoozing...

P.S. BTW, God is so good. Hubby's muffler came detached from his catalytic converter on the way home from work this morning...on a SUNDAY, when he has to be back to work tonight and I have to work tomorrow (and therefore needed my car)...we actually found a place that was OPEN, that took him right away, and welded a temporary fix to get him through the week...and DIDN'T CHARGE US ANYTHING. That mechanic was a blessing from God, and I told him so. :-)