So much fun!

Things have been out of control at work since we got back from our trip to the Midwest in late August.  In addition to the normal back-to-school chaos that occupies August/September/October, I'm dealing with a construction project (and working out of the corner of a conference room while my office is being torn apart) and several other complex projects with major milestone dates that all fall in and around the same time.  I've been working 60 hour weeks and am barely managing to keep everything on track.

I love that the craziness there hasn't kept me from enjoying time with Bethany and the kids.  We've done pretty well at keeping the weekends for ourselves and enjoy every hour.  My favorite, though, are the mornings.  As the kids develop, we have more and more fun.

This morning, Josiah wanted to tell me all about scissors.  Yesterday, Beth trimmed his and Lilly's bangs.  You don't get away with introducing anything new to Josiah without a long conversation and plenty of explanation.  She told him what the scissors do, how they are used, and warned him about how dangerous they are.  I wasn't here for that, so this morning he told me all about it: "shisha" and made scissor gestures with his hands, held the imaginary scissors to his hair, and waved his hands to warn me they were dangerous.  That three-part conversation probably happened 15 times.

Lilly knows how cute she is and wants you to know she knows.  Now when you ask her to give you a kiss, instead of just leaning in and kissing you on your cheek, she pulls your head over too.  This morning, I laid down on the couch and she laid on my chest pretending to talk on one of the toy cell phones.

In the car, Josiah takes roll - "Dada?  Momma?  YihYee?"

Tonight we went to Brandon & Nicole's to catch up with them since we missed them at Halloween.  Lilly went around the house calling for Jack and Milo.  Josiah took Brandon by the hand, took him outside, pushed the door closed, and said "bye".  We're not sure where he wanted Brandon to take him but that didn't make it any less funny.

[Slight tangent:

We wanted to put a night-light in their room but anything that plugs in would just be a toy for Josiah.  At 1 year old, he could pull the plastic child safety protectors out of outlets.  At 18 months, he drags any power cord he can (vacuum, fan, laptop charger, unplugs the lamps, etc) and tries to plug them into other outlets.  We opted to get the LED night lights that you install in the wall (replacing an outlet).  I picked ones that are half-night light and one receptacle and we left it off for the first few weeks.  A week or two ago, I opened the lens and used tissue paper to soften/dim the light and we've been leaving it on in their room since.  The second exciting thing is that they now make tamper-resistant outlets with the child protection built inside the outlet - how great is that?  The only challenge is getting Josiah to let me install them.]

It's so funny to go in at night to tuck them in before Beth and I go to sleep.  They'll be laying all over the room in weird positions.  Without the night light, you had to feel around the floor to find them.  It's great to see Lilly clenching one of her stuffed animals or Josiah with his arms completely around his blanket.

This is the most fun Bethany and I have ever had.