I Fink You Lub Me!

My kids are getting so conversational lately. It's a lot of fun bc I can sit and have a long detailed "talk" with them about all kinds of things and just hear them describe the world through their eyes and it is PRECIOUS! They are each starting to develop their own perpectives on life, different from mine and even different from each other.

For instance, Nicholas is very self-focused. He doesn't recognize anything going on around him except what he is doing or what is happening to him and everything is always "someone else's fault". Aubree, on the other hand, is very compassionate and also very aware of moods and people around her. She is the one who wants to make others "feel better". I would have just thought this was a boy vs girls difference but then along comes Annabelle and she is kind of a little of both. She seems much more aware of her environment like Aubree, but she is a lot more self-focused like Nicholas in that she only cares about those things that affect her. Of course, like ALL toddlers, they do all share the perspective that everything is supposed to make THEM happy so when it comes to things like playing and snacks and any other thing they want, it is all about what THEY want and they don't recognize that others have equal desires that conflict with theirs...so they all do still have that in common, even Aubree.

Well, lately Nicholas has started this....thing....where he will try to discreetly negotiate to get what he wants. For example, when he is supposed to be in bed, he will get up and come to us claiming "I have to tell you something!". If we ask what he has to tell us, he stands there trying to think of something to say until he comes up with it. It is always something like, "You're watching your show!" or "Is that a book?" or something like that (yeah, still needs to polish up those negoiation skills) but they are always just somehthing that helps him get that extra 12 seconds of time to be up. We got to where we do't even let him "tell us something" anymore, we tell him to go to bed and he can tell us in the morning. However, since I have been on bedrest the last few days, I have gotten weak and started letting him talk. Last night he came into the living room with that same claim, "I have to tell you something!". When I asked him what he had to tell me, he thought for a long moment then said, "I fink you lub me!" I just smiled at his precious serious expression. Then I pulled him into my lap and asked him why he think I love him and he said, "Because I'm a boy like daddy!" What I heard in that answer was that he thinks I love him because he is like his daddy. I must say, he is very perceptive. That is exactly why I love him! He is 1 part me, 1 part daddy and that, to me, is the BEST mix!! I will confess, he ended up staying up about 2 hours past bedtime after that. I was weak, daddy was out of town, I coldn't help it. :)