4 Miles

So I mentioned in the last post that Alex is getting "chatty" (that was the word one of his teacher/nursery worker used on Wednesday when I went to pick him up).  He has moved past only saying "I want __" and has added to that pointing out various things (truck (or "duck"), Bus, Dump truck, mail, digger).  He'll say something and keep saying it until you say "Did you see a ___?" and then he'll say "Yeah!". But the newest development has me shaking my head.

The first time I heard it, I thought I misheard. He asked for something, I said no, and I thought I heard "Why?"  I shook my head, there's no way my 19 month old is asking 'Why' already. He must have been saying "hi".  During dinner a few nights later, he did it again. James looked at me and asked, "Did he just say 'why'?"  My fears were confirmed. 

Yet, Alex asks "Why?" in a different way than Will.  Alex asks and you can easily say "Because I told you to".  Will's asking 'why' usually is with questions there is no possible answer. "Why did that truck turn that way, Mommy?", "Why is the firetruck going that way?", "Why did the police man have that car on the road?", "Why did you turn that way, Mommy? Why is that the way we have to go?" "Why are the diggers over there? Why is that crane doing that?"  (Do you see why Alex normally doesn't get a chance to talk in the car?)

Today I had to ask Will to be quiet in the car and not ask any more quesitons, Mommy needed a break.  He said "I just need to tell you something! Why–"  I cut him off. And managed to not scream. Today, being able to do that makes me Mom of the Year, it was just one of those days.

Will was excited to go back. As he put his backpack on, Alex started to say "Backpack!" So James got out Alex's backpack (Thank you Grandma Lo!!!). James packed his with the things Alex would need for his time in the nursery while I was at Bible Study.  I was sad we didn't get a picture of both of them in their backpacks, but we were running late, so maybe on Friday.  I have a feeling we'll be taking two back packs for awhile!

As Alex and I were driving away he kept saying "Will?". He's not used to being alone in the car! And, he talked much more (without his brother there to dominate the conversation)!

Will had a fun first day. He was telling me they did "All kinds of new things". I'm getting much more detailed descriptions of what he did than I did last year.

Everyone gets a bit spoiled visiting the Grandparents–and the grandparent's aren't always the ones doing the spoiling. James is sharing his Twizzler with Alex.

We went up Saturday and spent the weekend at my parents house. We wanted to visit our old church (and it's easier if we're already there), and I wanted to take the boys to the Upland Labor Day Parade (again, easier if we're already in town). We had our cookout on Saturday. Sunday we went to church, and spent the afternoon relaxing and at the local park. (If you click on the picture you'll see more, including some from our visit at the park.)

Monday morning, the boys got to experience a classic small town parade. We walked down to Main Street and saw all the fire trucks lined up at the start of the parade. I had warned Will it'd be loud at first, and it was. Alex hid his head in my shoulder as all the emergency vehicles went by. As soon as the last one was past, he perked up and started waving at everyone going by. Will covered his ears with his hands, but people at the top of the fire trucks were throwing candy to him. He quickly decided it was worth going for the candy (with one hand still covering one ear). We were right at the start of the parade and so the boys had LOTS of candy thrown to them. Will filled one bag for us and one for Grandma. He tried very hard to make sure they were even. The boys had fun gathering the candy and watching the tractors, trucks and people go by.