Chad and Michelle came in to town on the 19th to celebrate Thanks Giving. I am not sure about Kari, but their arrival really lifted my spirits. It has been a long time since I have seen them and I was especially excited to see Cannon and Logan.
We had Thanks Giving dinner yesterday. Fried turkey, green bean casserole, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, stuffing, Kari's homemade rolls, home made pies, and ice cream. I was pretty proud of Kari and myself, this was the first Thanks Giving that we have prepared from A to Z without any "adults" there to help out. Yes, I still kind of think of us as kids in a way. So, why do I feel so old?
At any rate we all over ate in the proper Thanks Giving tradition. And the kids behaved splendidly. Rylee and Cannon shared a small table while Logan and Reagan were mostly content in their highchairs.
Logan is a monster. I mean that in a good way, size wise. He is really big, quite a bit larger than his older cousin, Reagan. He is taking his first steps and is really fun to watch. While he is a momma's boy, he allowed me to hold him and I even got a good belly laugh out of him. He was a little fussy the first night due to the new environment, so Meesh just kept feeding him milk till he passed out. He was also happier once he was moved out of Reagan's room and put in the pack-n-play in his Mom and Dad's room. Rylee was quite taken with Logan and spent the first ten minutes sitting on the floor next to him just staring at him. She likes to make him smile.
Cannon is a ball of energy. The boy has no low gear, he is either going full speed or is asleep. Just like a young boy should be. He told me that he liked our house and was going to stay for four weeks. I thought that would be just fine, but his Mom and Dad are taking him home on the 22nd. He really has a kind heart and was very interested in and attentive to the twins. At one point, when both twins where crying, Rylee crouched over Madison's swing to comfort her and Cannon squatted in front of Jordan's swing to sooth her. Very touching.
Boys, however lovable, are very different from girls. There is an intensity about little boys, in their actions and demeanor. Michelle was watching me while I was watching Cannon play around the coffee table and she couldn't help but laugh at me. I don't know if I had a funny look on my face or if I was unconsciously flinching every time he brought that toy car. made of die cast metal, forcefully down on the coffee table, Crash, Crash, Crash, Crash. I was trying to look unconcerned, maybe that is what was so funny. He didn't do any damage, but you just don't see that with the girls.
Girls, while they are tough on furniture too, seem to put a little more thought into their actions and use a bit more precision. Boy's actions are more impulsive and, for lack of a better word, violent. Pick this up, throw it. Pick that up, shake it, throw it. Toy baseball bats are not just for hitting balls, they can be used to beat on almost anything. However, there is more to it than just force of action, I can't quite put my finger on it. Volume for one thing is ALWAYS set to high and boys are slightly more apt to do something like jump naked into a freezing cold swimming pool and then do it again, even though they now know how cold it is.
I find it very amusing to get safety tips from a four year old. "You should never put your hand on a grill. It could hurt you." "Reagan is going toward the street. Now she is in the street! She shouldn't be in the street!" His parents are bringing him up right. And it is nice to know that he takes those lessons to heart. But, it is still funny to get a safety tip from someone and then have them turn around and race up and down the stairs at breakneck speed with no pants on. (He had taken them off again because he wanted to jump back into the freezing cold pool.) The boy is definitely not shy.
I find it immensely entertaining to watch all the kids interact and see the wonder in their eyes with every new discovery. I especially like talking with Cannon. The questions come rapid fire, one after another, and you can see the wheels turning, digesting every answer. You can almost see the little "record" light blinking on his forehead, those eyes and ears gathering every scrap of information and storing it for future reference, the furrow of his brow as he places all that gathered information in the proper order in his little noggin. It is truly fascinating to watch these kids grow up. And it sure is happening fast. DON'T BLINK! Or they will be all grown up.