Billy has a new favorite game. He calls it “Seek,” the rest of us call it Hide and Seek. He is a lucky boy who has a wonderful father that will play this for what seems like hours! Billy counts and Kevin hides. Ricky often joins in as well. From my observation standpoint, Kevin could just hide in two alternating places and Billy wouldn’t notice. They play something like this: Billy and Kevin start in the same spot, Billy starts counting, Kevin goes off and hides. When Billy thinks he’s counted long enough, he takes off to find Kevin and always starts at the place Kevin hid last. If it seems to be taking too long, Kevin will quack to give Billy a hint. Billy usually has two stances while he’s looking — hands turned up with a “where is he” look on his face or brow furrowed, hands in fists on his waist while he stomps around looking! When Billy finally finds Kevin there is always the big grin and “Ah ha!!!” followed by Billy taking Kevin by the hand and returning to the starting place (which doesn’t actually have to be the same place every time, it is just where ever Billy chooses) saying “again” or “time,” meaning one more time.
Tonight they were playing at Grandmama’s after dinner and on one turn, Kevin hid in a closet. Billy found him after a few quacks and then the next round, Billy took himself to the closet to count while Kevin hid! When Ricky does join in, he will hold Billy’s hand as they walk around looking for Kevin and it melts the heart to see! Billy’s counting is often just a random repetition of 8, 9, 10, but he can count to 10. Well, almost. Billy counts, “one, two, three, four, five, six, eight, nine, ten.” For some reason, we’ve lost the seven. Most often he stops after 5 or 6 anyway. I am just amazed at all the things he can do and say and he won’t even be two for another month!
Until the last week or two, part of our bedtime routine was that I would rock Billy while he drank his nighttime milk and then Kevin would take him up to bed. Ricky would then get a story or two, we’d pray (just the three of us) and then Ricky would go up to bed. Well, one night, Billy was being slow and we had prayers with him still downstairs. It has now become an integral part of his bedtime routine! Kevin tried taking him to bed without praying one night and Billy cried until Ricky and Kevin came up and said a little prayer with him. So, we make sure to pray together before putting Billy to bed now. He kneels down next to Kevin, wiggles through the prayer and says “amen” right along with us. Tonight, after the “amen,” Kevin picked him up to take upstairs and he wanted “disses.” So, Ricky gave him a kiss on the forehead and then Billy said, “Icky, come on” and made the come signal with his hand. Ricky hadn’t had his stories yet, so he stayed down with me, while Kevin took Billy upstairs. Billy cried and called out until Ricky finally joined him in their room and they are now sleeping peacefully. That little one just adores his big brother so much and wants to do everything with him.
Enough with the journal entries . . . Last weekend, Kevin and Ricky went to a Sibling Class held at the hospital where I will have the baby. Ricky learned all about helping take care of a new baby brother, including diaper changes. Here he is showing me his new skills on an old baby doll . . .
Here is Billy so reverently praying (yes, I know I shouldn’t take pictures during prayers, but look how cute . . .)
I generally avoid all shots that include a toilet in them, but this is a cute sight. Kevin has begun potty training Billy and, since he likes to do all things like Ricky, Billy needs a story while he sits on his potty, too.
We have had rain the last few days and this afternoon it finally turned into big fluffy snowflakes. It only took Billy a minute to discover the fun of catching them on your tongue.
