Quick Takes Friday - Bubba's big, smelly day

1
The kids tapped deep into my mothering reservoirs today, and I must confess that when I closed the door on both of them asleep in their beds (well, at least in their beds) I heaved a grateful sigh of relief. I love seeing the two of them play together, and Bella can make Bubba almost howl with laughter, but my gracious. I thought because of the age difference there wouldn't be a lot of bickering, but they find a way to make it work. Bella annoys the snot out of Bubba until he's literally screaming, and I am forced to intervene and impose a 'don't touch your brother' policy. This works until Bubba gets bored and decides he wants to play again, at which point he proceeds to annoy the snot out of Bella. This is amusing for a short while, because she's been driving him crazy since birth and he is just now able to give it back to her, but quickly loses any humor whatsoever when the two of them them start rolling around on the floor screeching at the top of their lungs. I know this is nothing new to people who have more than one child, but it's new to me. Holy moly.

2
Bubba had a banner day today. He has a new tooth coming out - the two center teeth on bottom came out, and then out of nowhere up pops a canine on his top jaw. And it's all sharp and pointy - his Maw-Maw, who loves him dearly and thinks he can do little to no wrong, laughed at him and called him a vampire baby. He was in rare form, all day long. If I stood up and attempted anything - dishes, laundry, anything, he would cling to my pants and moan. If I sat down he was content to roam about, but the second I stood up he was all over me. I think it's separation anxiety - he's really kicked that up a notch, lately. He doesn't seem to have stranger anxiety, though. He'll go to anyone. Strangers in the supermarket, older ladies in the doctor's office waiting room, the cable guy. He spent most of mass the other day struggling to get into the lap of a kindly Filipino gentleman sitting beside us. But he is just as upset when these people leave him as he is when Brian or I leave. So I could guess you could say he has stranger separation anxiety?

3
Bubba's lovely new Christmas toys are scattered about, forgotten, while he partakes of the kitchen utensils. Mixed in amongst the Blues Clues toys and the Tonka trucks are serving spoons and nesting measuring cups. His (current) favorite toy is a pair of enormous plastic salad tongs. You can separate him from the salad tongs, but at the cost of great emotional distress on his part. He wanted to bring them to Wal-Mart earlier, but I had to draw the line somewhere. I could just see myself trying to explain to a dubious door greeter that no, we had brought those salad tongs in with us, we weren't stealing anything. When we got home he actually hugged them, like some long lost friend. The boy makes me laugh.

4
He also embarked on a poop-a-thon today the likes of which I have not seen since his infant days. It was remarkable, really. I would change him, get up and walk to the garbage to throw the dirty diaper away, and by the time I got back to wherever he was there would be little stink waves emanating up off of him, like Pigpen from Charlie Brown. So I would repeat the process: change, throw away, return, and lo and behold, mere minutes later, he would toddle by, clutching his beloved salad tongs and leaving a cloud of stink in his wake. Bella actually commented on it: "Bubba stinks a lot today". Yes, yes he does.

5
My sisters and I could be a commercial for the Nintendo Wii and it's wireless functions. We have spent the last two days doing very little else but playing Mario Kart and Animal Crossing with/against each other, and having a wonderful time doing it. Yesterday my younger sister and her husband (located in Jacksonville), my nephew Mac (located two miles or so from us) and Bella and myself logged a good solid hour (and it was probably closer to two hours) racing each other on Mario Kart. And it was actually very, very fun. Bella started calling my sister' s husband 'Milkshake' (because she read his screen name incorrectly and then it stuck), and would say things like, "Call Aunt Sa and tell her to tell Milkshake that I'm coming for him".

And Animal Crossing has been a blast. We have attempted to hit each other with shovels (doesn't work), watered each other (doesn't do anything, but is mildly amusing), shown each other fish (funnier than it sounds, especially if you take a picture), and, in a feat heretofore unmatched, my younger sister and I dug about three dozen holes in front of my nephew's house. It was merely a mild inconvenience for him, but it was funny. The Wii speak is amazing, too - especially now that all three of our households have it equipped. Bella and Mac take advantage of it to bicker, and my sisters and I and the others in our households use it to strategize and laugh ourselves silly. Good wholesome family fun. Well, except for the 'hitting each other with shovels' part, but we had to try it. Nothing says family like your cartoonish avatar chasing your nine year old nephew's avatar around imaginary countryside trying to hit each other with a shovel. That's a millennial Normal Rockwell moment, right there.

6
I think that's all the quick takes I can muster, especially since I haven't taken the trash out yet and there is a double-digit quantity of dirty diapers in there. Blerg. Happy weekend to all!