Story time

We have a new routine at bed time. It used to be, not so long ago, that Owyn went to bed before Rhys. Tracy or I would give Owyn an bottle and tuck him in, then I would put Rhys to bed, half an hour later.

Two months ago, or so, Owyn started staying up and playing in his crib at bed time. We moved his rack time back to the same as Rhys'. In the last two weeks we have modified things again.

We take the boys up at the same time. Tracy gets Owyn ready and I get Rhys ready. He goes potty, puts on his jammies, feeds his fish and picks his stories. About the time he is done, Owyn shows up, grinning from ear to ear.

I sit on the bed and Owyn climbs up. He sits down between my legs, leans back against me, and pulls the blankets up over us. Rhys hands Owyn the stories and climbs up, tucking himself in on my left side. Tracy sits on the food of the bed.

Owyn gets to pick which story we read first, there are always two.

When I finish the second story, with many, many interuptions, Owyn says, "Bye Daddy", gives me a kiss and climbs down. Rhys turns on his turtle night light and hits the button for blue (there is also green and a disturbing, corpse like brown/orange). I turn off the light and lay beside Rhys for a few minutes.

I always tell him that I will stay for five minutes. We count down, five, four, three, two, one, zero. He likes it when I make the zero sign because he can stick his spindly little arm in the circle of my fingers. He always talks me into staying past five minutes.

We talk about the next day. He always wants to know how many schools he gets to go to. He gets "two schools" on every day except Friday. His second question is always "Daddy pick-a me up?" Two days I pick him up at "two school", the other days Tracy or I will pick him up at day care.

When it is finally time for me to leave I give him a kiss and a hug, find whichever of twenty stuffed animals on his bed he has decided he "needs" and stand up. On my way out the door I turn of the light on the fish tank and he says "Goodnight Fish, Goodnight Daddy". "Goodnight Rhys, I love you. I'll see you tomorrow. Sleep well."

Nanna's

Owyn loves Bananas. He loves them more than any other food, even pizza. Just seeing them in the store is occasion for celebration. Actually buying them and bring them home warrants a happy dance.

Nothing beats getting to eat them though. That is just pure joy.

Christmas is coming!

You know Christmas is getting close when you start to get the toy catalogs in the mail. Toys-R-Us showed up the other day. Tracy and I went through it first. As we were finishing it up the boys found it.

They immediately got down and dirty and went through every page. They have pointed out their favorites several times, hint, hint, hint.

Movie Night

The other night we rented Toy Story for the boys. It was late when we started it, bed time is usually 1900. Rhys and Owyn were frantic to see it. They curled up on the couch with Mama to watch it. Owyn was riveted the entire time. Rhys couldn't hang.

Halloween

Spook night was sort of mixed for our family this year. Rhys loves it, Owyn hates it. Tracy likes dressing up the boys.

Penguins are Rhys' totemic animals. It all stems from my time in Antarctica, but suffice it to say, that he has penguins everywhere. He was ever so excited to dress up as one this year. He loves the dress up, he loves the trick or treating and he loves the candy. Rhys can't get enough of it. As soon as he was done trick or treating he wanted to go again the next night. He was devastated to learn that he has to wait a whole year before he can do it again.

Owyn hates dressing up. If it was up to him he would never wear anything but jeans and tee shirts, though perhaps shorts in the summer are OK. He was supposed to be a pirate this year. The costume is great, and Rhys was a knock out in two years ago. Owyn threw a fit when they tried to stuff him into it. He wasn't excited about the trick or treat, though he eventually got into it. He wasn't even all that jazzed about the candy. He had a sucker last night and that was it.

The boys ended up getting to stay up late, and they got a reasonable amount of candy, which they might get to eat if they hurry. Otherwise their Mama will eat it all.