About the boys

Dup sent me an e-mail a while back specifically asking me to blog about the boys because they are just so funny and cute and doing such outrageous stuff that he doesn't have time to record. So here is me fulfilling that request.

Davey is a preschooler now, 3 1/2 and Jasper is a toddler, 1 1/2. They are very aware of each other now and they are a unit but asserting themselves separately too. Jasper calls Davey "Day Day" but Davey doesn't like that name. When we point out that Jasper has come up with this cute name for him, Davey throws himself on the floor and screams, "NO I'M DAVEY!!!" So now when Jasper calls him "Day Day", we say, "Awww, he said Davey" and Davey accepts this and likes it. He smiles, "He said Davey." Yes he said Davey.

They both throw themselves on the ground a lot. There are a lot of moments of Drama. The world ends. It could be because there's no juice. It could be because we got our sword taken away for hitting our dog or our brother. It could be because we've been asked to give our brother a turn with the toy we're playing with. It could be because it's time to go in or it's time to go out or it's time to go to sleep. But it washes over them like a wave. They both turn on a dime and when they are distracted from their tears, it's on to the next thing.

Davey got bunk beds. He likes to sleep on the top bunk which is the look out or the bottom bunk which is the fort. He likes to alternate between them. It takes a lot to get him to go to sleep. It's one long negotiation. It's rice milk and vitamins and maybe peanut butter toast and it's one more video and one more book no two more books and I'm not tired and tell me another story about me and Jasper and put a magic spell on me so that I won't have bad dreams and what is the plan if I do have a bad dream... Then I finally get him down and then he comes out. He's scared. He heard something. He has a tummy ache. He has to pee. He has to poop. It's all bullshit my friends. He's a con artist. He doesn't want to go to sleep.

When he wakes up he says, "I had a good sleep! I love you too mama. What am I doing today?" and I tell him I'm so glad and I love him too and he's going to school and he says, "You going to work today mama?" and I say yes but tomorrow I don't have to go to work and he says, "we can make pancakes!" and I say yes we can.

Jasper doesn't want to go to sleep either. He wants to wear shoes but not those shoes the other shoes and he says, "shooos shoos shoos." over and over like he's E.T. He wants more, "mowh, mowh, mowh" more juice, more cookies, more balls, more books, more jumping on top of me from the chair, more trying on all of the shirts in his closet. When he does lay down he wants, "nigh nigh" which is what he calls his blanket and he wants nigh nigh a certain way and if it gets pulled off him he screams, "NIGH NIGH" like a little tiny Napoleon. He shouts orders a lot. He's a toddler who knows what he wants. He wants more.

Neither of them are big eaters. Davey never has been. He loves candy and juice. Dinner is a struggle every night. Jasper likes to chew his food and shove more in there and chew and chew and chew and then just spit it all out all over the place. it's disgusting. Every time we're like, "OAWwwww. man Jasper, really? God. Gross." He doesn't care. He's a toddler. They could give a rats ass about that kind of thing.

Jasper likes to ride Davey's scooter. It's way too big for him but he's actually getting the hang of it and he's pretty good. People are impressed that he can ride this thing. Of course this makes Dup and I very proud.

Davey likes to be in costume. A LOT. He likes to be Peter Pan or Bat Man or Spiderman mainly. He wears the costumes around the house and around the complex but also sometimes to the store, the park, to birthday parties, whatever. He gets a pretty big reaction, especially when he's in Peter Pan because of the red hair. People will yell, 'PETER PAN" and he will take off his hat and say, "No, I Davey." he's been doing this since he got the costume in September. Davey has his 4th b-day all planned out. It's going to be Spiderman. We have hired a guy to show up in a Spiderman suit. I showed him the photo of the guy from the website. He's telling every one Spiderman is going to be at his party. Then recently he told me that he's been having Spiderman nightmares every night. This is because we let him watch these Spiderman cartoons every night before bed. I tried to explain to him that Spiderman isn't real. It's just a story and he's like, "but Spiderman is real. He's coming to my party." And I found it hard to get out of that one. We stopped watching the videos before bed though and the nightmares went away. I'm just so glad he told me.

Jasper is a daddy's boy. Whenever Dup leaves the house he cries. When I leave he says, "bye bye!" with his voice intoning, "good luck out there wherever you go all the time." When Dup isn't around he looks for him, "Da da? Da da? Whar Da da?" Davey is a mama's boy. He would stay with me all the time if we let him. Sometimes when Dup tries to help him with something he will yell very creuly, "NNNNO! MAMA!" Poor Dup. This is the thanks he gets for caring for the boy noon and night. Although in the middle of the night if Davey wakes up and only wants mama, Dup is pretty glad he's a mamas boy. Jasper will sometimes cry "mama" in the middle of the night and sometimes call, "dada" and we really like to put that on each other Dup and I when we're half asleep, "He said Dada, go get him." or vice versa.

Sometimes when Davey and Jasper play together, which is happening more often, when they are laughing and running around or sliding in the bathtub or playing with batman guys, I sit and watch and I just think, this is the stuff of which dreams are made. It's pure heaven to watch them love each other, which they do, they do very much.

There's more I could say and I will but don't you hate it when people go on and on about their kids? Daddy Dup, that's for you. I love you!