Our cutie pie turned two today. So glad that he's unaware of what a birthday really is because it was a crazy busy day and no one had time for a party. Bella had young women's (church) camp, Christian and Kelly had tickets to see the Blue Angels air show,
and Benjamin had to be color guard and a speaker in an eagle court of honor. I took Benjamin to the court of honor because it happened to be at my favorite park and Peter and I alternated between the court of honor when we could be there and the park when Peter became restless.
It worked out perfectly. He had a wonderful time and when we came home, he laid down on blankie in the kitchen and said, "I nap" and shut his eyes. So funny. He was wiped out. I took him to bed and he went right to sleep. After his nap, we shared banana blueberry pancakes in the tree fort and played with his water table until it was time for dinner.
Peter is a constant source of entertainment,
laughs, joy, and love. I can't describe what a light he is in all of our
lives. He has an adorable sense of humor, he's a bit mischievous and
naughty, and he loves to show love and make people happy. He's just the
perfect kid. He loves water most. He also loves music, reading
books, playing around in cars and seeing big trucks, play-doh, animals, and
playing with the doll house. He can name all the major colors, can count
to three, and is a climbing fanatic. No fence, ladder, or staircase
remains unscaled in his presence. His language skills are exploding and we get new
words every day. Today it was "What? No way!" spoken as one
word. He must hear us all using that when we're surprised about something
because today we shot off a toy spinner and it went much farther than I
expected. When I said, "Wow, look how far that went!" he
responded, "What? No way!" and ran after it. My jaw just hung
open. Where did all these words come from??! It's been so fun.
I have mason jars that I use as chore jars. I fill them with slips of laminated paper that have chores written on them. I have 3 jars - to do, in process, and done. The kids move the slips around as needed. Today Peter emptied all the slips out of one of the jars and took the jar over to the fridge to fill it with water. I took it away and told him not to do that because I didn't want the jar to get wet. He became so upset and said, "Dada! Wa!" (wa = water). That's when I realized that he was trying to bring his dad some water because Kelly also uses mason jars as water glasses. When I offered him one of Kelly's to fill, he was so excited and he filled it and brought it to Kelly, sloshing all the way. So sweet.
Peter was stung by a hornet a few days ago. It was on the patio and he decided to pick it up. It may have been injured or else I don't know why it was on the ground and docile enough to be picked up by a slow, bumbling toddler. In any case, it wasn't too sick to sting and it dug in. Peter screamed at a pitch I've never heard before and became absolutely hysterical. He shook his hand violently but the hornet hung on. I didn't know what to do. I hadn't seen him pick it up. My back was turned to him and I turned around to see him shaking his hand all around and screaming. I saw the hornet on him and thought, 'he's going to shake that thing into a frenzy and then it's going to fly off and sting the next thing it sees - me!' So, as awful as it sounds, I didn't rush in. I figured it's already stung - I can't stop that. Hopefully it gets off soon and then I'll help where I can. Sure enough, it fell off after a couple more seconds and I scooped Peter up and rushed him inside.
Kelly and the rest of the family had come running to see what in the world was making Peter scream like that. We ran his finger under cold water and put a numbing cream on it. After that, Peter told the story of the "bee" that "sting" his finger (pointing to finger) and how it hurt (sad face). Benjamin and Christian shared their wasp sting stories and after that, he added their plight to his. For the next 72 hours, he repeated the words, "bee, sting, me, Christian, Benjamin" while pointing to his finger and his neck (where Christian had been stung) and making pained gestures. Non stop. It consumed his conscious and he told every new person he came across. Each time we had to console and commiserate again. It was hilarious and so pitiful at the same time. On the fourth day he found a wasp drowned in his water table. It was time for our hero to exact his revenge. He grabbed a stick and beat that wasp again and again and again. He smashed the stick into the water so fiercely, the wasp broke into several pieces and still he whacked at it. After that he was appeased. Justice had been served. Since then I've tried to teach him the difference between bees and wasps/hornets. Also between stinging insects we should avoid and bugs we can pick up (ants, ladybugs). It seems to be sinking in.
Peter's one true love is blankie. He calls it "bee-hee." If blankie goes missing, he will walk all over the house moaning, "bee-hee, oh bee-hee!" When he finally finds it, he'll yell, "bee-hee!" with the sound of pure, unending love and throw himself down upon it. However, bee-hee has a sinister side. He doesn't just cuddle blankie, he sucks on blankie, specifically on its corners. So all the corners of blankie are dark and nasty from spit and mouth germs. I wash and bleach it regularly, but it takes only a day before it looks the same again. As gross as that is, if that were all, we'd be fine. However, having that wet cloth around his mouth every nap and all night long, has led to a constant, never ending case of eczema around his mouth. He perpetually looks like he's just finished a large bowl of spaghetti with marinara sauce. We've all tried to break him of this habit, but it's rock solid. In the last call with my mom, she encouraged him to drape blankie over his shoulders so it could be close but not in his mouth. Since that call he has rehashed that advice a hundred times. Always something like this: "Mimi" "beehee" indicates neck "no" shakes head and points to the sores around his mouth. I usually always said, "yes, you're right, mimi told you to put it around your neck and not in your mouth. However, one time I said, "so are you going to do it?" "No," he replied and stuck blankie in his mouth. There you have it. A teenager already. The cute thing about blankie is that he perceives it as a panacea for all in the house. If you ever get hurt or seem sad, he'll rush and bring you blankie to cuddle.
We love you, Peter. As Christian reminds him everyday, "you're the best!"
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