the sweetest things

Jake is doing very well with his potty training. So well, in fact, that Max wants to try to sleep in underwear and not Pull-ups. He has been in Pull-ups for almost two years and has yet to wake up with a dry Pull-up in the morning. But now is a good time, if he is ready. I would say he is NOT ready. I even bought him a "prize" for going a whole night without waking Mommy up to change his sheets. He has not had a dry night yet. We are all very tired. Even Max. He is insistant on trying to sleep in underwear, so night after night I let him go to bed in underwear and have the dry sheet and mattress pad waiting in the wings. Last night I was downstairs in the kitchen next to Max's monitor, yes, I still have a monitor in his room. It sits right on his dresser. I was over at the table and heard some rustling around by the monitor. Then I could tell he was right up next to it. My first thought was " he already peed in his bed and is changing his underwear and pajama bottoms. But instead he spoke right into the monitor:

"Daddy, Daddy-please don't let any headless snowmen into our house. Good night."

I was just laughing so hard. It was the first time he had ever done that- talking to us through the receiver . He understands the monitor system because he checks Jake's monitor at nap times.
It not so much about the "headless snowman" (from a Scooby-Doo episode), but the surprise and the giggles I got out of it. Even as I repeated the story to Mike it wasn't as funny to him.
So when people talk about how Moms love their kids more than anyone else, these are the small reasons. Yes, there is the maternal instinct and motherly bonding (and for some of us the whole grew-you-in-my-womb-thing), but also all the adorable things we get to see, that even as we repeat these stories they lose some charm. All moms have a million adorable stories about thier little angels. A million little reasons to love them more.

And here is another one of mine: Jake has his Batman backpack, we all know it's his pride and joy. Jake was talking to his Nonni (my mom) on the phone after his first week of school and Nonni asked if he likes school and if he likes his backpack. Jake responded "yes" to both. Since the adult does 99% of the talking with the two year old over the phone, she continued by asking him what was on his backpack. He said "Batman"! He was so excited he held the phone away and Nonni could barely hear him, so she asked again "Who is on your backpack?" Jake replied with an "I'll show you" and went over to the backpack and held the phone to it. He was smiling and saying "Batman Backpack!" Most of it was lost in the translation to my mother, but it was so cute for me to witness the pride in his big green eyes.