The big blessing is mornings. We can actually sleep in, a little, now. Or at least, even though we're awake, we don't have to rush out of bed to rescue an irate toddler from his prison crib. The boys even play together. Once the Little One starts shouting, the Bean (who is the earliest riser in our household, barring an alarm clock artifically waking my husband for work) goes to his brother's room and they play together happily and mostly quietly for 30 to 45 minutes! YAY!
This morning, my husband was out of town, so I was awakened at 6:45 by the shout "MOMMY" shout from next door. I heard the Bean go into the Little One's room, some giggling, and the sound of toys being dragged from the closet. I talked to my husband on the phone for 30 minutes, during which time I heard very little from the rooms down the hall.
After saying goodbye to my husband, I went to check on the situation with the very quiet boys. I walk into the Little One's bedroom and am greeted by several stuffed animals piled on the floor. This might seem like nothing to get excited about, until you know that when I put the boys to bed last night, these selfsame stuffed animals were on the top of the hutch that is mounted on the dresser. Approximately 7' off the floor!! There is nothing in the room suitable for climbing that high (or so I thought), and I'm struggling a bit for words.
"Mommy," the Bean is grinning widely, "I got my amimals down for me guys! I solved my own problem!"
"I see! How did you do that?" I ask cheerfully, smiling back, because he's clearly proud of his accomplishment and I don't want to crush his spirit of independence and self-reliance. They didn't ask me for help. He solved this problem on his own, and I'm torn between bursting pride and panic.
"Like this, with my rocking horse. I'll show you!" He starts dragging the small rocking horse my dad and mom built for the boys when the Bean was born. It's modeled after one I had as a child, and it's no more than a 18" high. How is this going to work??
Carefully, the Bean scoots the horse into position beside the dresser, next to the diaper pail. I'm having visions of him balancing on top of the Diaper Genie and I'm about ready to put a stop to the demonstration, but he does one better than my imagination. He stands on the seat of the horse, reaches over and grabs the side of the hutch for balance, then steps up onto the hand holds on the side of the horse's head. Handles - basically about the size of a wooden broom handle in diameter, sticking out about 8" from either side of the head, which is attached the body of the horse with a SINGLE BOLT AND WING NUT! Yes, I'm yelling! But silently. Not at the boys. I'm struck dumb watching this demonstration.
Stretching up on his tiptoes, the Bean grabs another animal from the top of the dresser, tosses it to his brother, below, and hops down.
I remember to breathe again, and reminding myself to see the pleasure and pride on his face, I check my impulse to shout about the dangers of climbing rocking horses and scaling the sides of dressers.
"Bean, I love how you worked out the solution to that problem all by yourself! I'm really proud of you!" His grin could split his cheeks at this point. "But, I want to tell you something. Standing on the rocking horse like that isn't something you should be doing, ok? It's not really very safe, and I know you didn't realize that, but if the handles or his head had broken, you would have fallen down and could've been hurt very badly."
His brows draw together for a moment, as he studies the horse and considers the implication of my words.
"Aaaaah." And with that and a nod, he's off with the Little One to find more adventures and breakfast.
I think I actually felt four hairs spontaneously turn gray watching the demonstration.
I'm going to be fully gray by the time they make it to Kindergarten.
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