Thoughts on ........Life

I've been thinking lately about sibling rivalry. It's no wonder some kids grow up hating each other. They pretty much ruin everything. Burke gets settled in the Bumbo & I start feeding him. Then Carson wants something to eat - right now. Carson & I sit down to play trucks - Burke needs a diaper change - now. Burke's enjoying a nap - Carson screams about something & wakes him up. Carson's having fun - but he's gotta be quiet because Burke's sleeping. What a drag!
On the other hand, no one can make Burke laugh the way that Carson does. He gets Burke going & it's SO fun for all of us. Carson is really sweet to his brother sometimes. It's so fun to hear him say, "It's ok Burkie, mom's coming." or "Here's a toy for you Burke. Do you like that toy?"
I think eventually they'll be friends - after Burke gets revenge for all the times Carson has stepped on him, poked him, pushed him, taken away his toys, and drunk all his juice. Speaking of which, Burke had juice in a sippy cup the other day. I walked into Burke's room to put something away & Carson comes bolting down the hall into his room. I come back to the kitchen & Burke's juice is gone.
Me (yelling down the hall): Carson, where's Burke's juice?
Carson (yelling back): Over there.
Over where?
Right there.
(I walk down the hall & he's in the farthest corner of his room chugging Burke's juice.)
Me: Why did you take Burke's juice?
Carson: I'm just drinking it because Burkie's little and he just needs a teeny tiny bit.
Me: Oh. Do you want some juice?
Carson: Yeah.
Me: Ok, well maybe next time you can just ask me for some juice so you don't have to take Burke's.
Carson: Oh.

Sneaky Devil.


Carson has started to read himself books. I love to listen to him. He gets the general story line right according to the pictures on the page. He even uses the words & language from the books. We read a lot of Dr. Seuss & P.D. Eastman books. Today he was reading "One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish" only his version was "Yellow Fish, Green Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish" according to the pictures on the front. One of the pages has a man with eleven fingers: "Say, look at that man's fingers! One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, dee-leven. What a lot of fingers! Why does he have so many fingers? I don't know. Go ask your dad." Love it!!

Tonight we were reading Dr. Seuss's ABCs. We got to X - "X is very useful if your name is Nixie Knox. It also comes in handy spelling ax & extra fox." There's a picture of a red fox with an ax thrown over his shoulder.
Carson: What's that?
me: an ax
C: what's he gonna do with that ax?
Probably chop some wood.
What does that mean?
Well, sometimes when you build a fire you need to use your ax to cut some wood to put in your fire.
What does that mean?
Uh.....I don't know.

It's never "Why" it's always "What does that mean?"


We were looking at a catalog & he asked me if the model was wearing "slip-slops"!!!!


Today we were getting ready to go for a drive.
Carson: Where we gonna go?
Me: Just for a drive.
Are we gonna sleave Burke here?
Um, no. We'll take him with us.
Oh.
(He says "sleave" for leave. I think it's from me saying "Juss' leave him alone" forty-five times a day.)


Sometimes I get a little bummed that there's always pictures of Mark & the kids because I'm the one that thinks to get the camera when a Kodak moment arises. Apparently Mark read my mind & picked up the camera. He's so in tune like that. Do you see how he's captured the essence of a regular day in our home? yikes.

Carson with Dad's socks on.
We had a momma skunk & her baby come rambling through our backyard two nights ago. The baby was pretty cute. We couldn't see him very well because momma was pretty protective & we were happy to keep our distance. Behind our neighbor's yard (behind the fence) is a big field (and a dog kennel). This is the second skunk we've seen in our back yard. The first one came through 3 or 4 years ago when we first moved in.

You can seek Burkie's red skin on his knees & a little bit on his wrist where he pulls himself along on the floor. He uses one & a half arms & one of his legs to get around. He gets up on all fours & will go for a step or two & then decides that it's too hard or too much work & goes right back to his tummy. He will go from his tummy to his knees & then to a sitting position. He loves to stand up & lean on stuff or have me hold him up.
Burke's escape attempt.
After bathtime. Poor boy needs a haircut & I'm too chicken to do it.
Bathtime!!! This kid loves the bathtub. He kicks & throws his head back when I pull him out & try to get him in his towel.


Back to sibling rivalry. I was reading Elder Scott's talk from Conference - "He Lives! All Glory to His Name!" He talks about the Savior and His Atonement. He says, "I believe that it is instructive to try to imagine what the Atonement required of both the Father and His willing Son. Three of the challenges the Savior faced were:
"First, an enormous sense of responsibility, for He realized that except it be done perfectly, not one of His Father's children could return to Him. They would be forever banished from His presence since there would be no way to repent for broken laws and no unclean thing can exist in the presence of God. His Father's plan would have failed, and each spirit child would have been under the eternal control and torment of Satan." (He goes on to talk about the other two challenges. You can read the whole talk HERE.) If anyone would be entitled to feel resentment toward their siblings, it would be Jesus Christ. We as His siblings come to Earth and make all kinds of mistakes and expect Him take them away & lighten the load. Now, I know that this is the plan - and that's my point, I guess. He doesn't resent us. In fact, He loves us more than we understand. He wants us to succeed and He wants to help us succeed. I think that's the key to being a great brother. No matter the frustration or the annoyance or the number of times we make it harder on our siblings, they still love us and buoy us up and want us to succeed.

I'm writing this down because I don't want to look back on these years & think "All my kids ever did was fight. I hated being the referee and the disciplinarian & the bad guy all the time." I want to remember that Carson made Burke laugh - and he loved doing it. And I want to remember that the Savior helped me get through the really hard days when I felt like a failure and like I shouldn't be anyone's mom - let alone two busy boys.

I love my kids. And I love my Savior and am so grateful for His help every day!