Yeah, Babay

Little Cliff is an adorable little handful.

His latest and greatest responses are:

"Yeah, Babay."  (to nearly every question I ask him)

"Sorry, Babay." (after he'd been mean to Adina in the car)

"Thank You, Babay." (after I helped him with his shower)

"Hey, Babay." (to say hi to anyone)

He's so stinkin' funny! We like to talk like him just because it's cool.

He's going to be 3 in January. As of today, I'd say he's fully day-time potty-trained. Yay for us.  He was my easiest child to potty train.  He just decided it was cool to use the toilet and wear undies, so there was no looking back for him.  It's like watching him climb a jungle gym to climb onto our taller toilet downstairs, but he does it no problem. Most of the time, it's all completely on his own, too.

The big kids are in school everyday now, so Cliff, Clancy, Matt and I have a lot of together-time.  We're loving the one-on-one time with the little boys.  Cliff probably gets a little bored not having a big kid to play with, but he makes up for it by helping me 24/7 in the kitchen, or trying to rope Clancy when I'm not looking.  HE'S ALWAYS ROPING CLANCY! I take ropes away and he finds something else - a halter, a piece of twine, a blanket, etc.  So far, he's still a little bigger and a lot more sturdy and agile than Clancy, so he can still get away with some of it.

He's just recently learned to say "Cankey". Until now, he called Clancy "Baby Guy". I miss that. Baby Guy could qualify as the "Most Original Nickname".

Clancy, oh Clancy.  How I wish he'd sleep through the night. I threaten to send him to Nikki's house for sleep training, but in my heart, I can't let him cry anything out.  Last night I tried a little; he was stuffed up, wanted to be held but couldn't get comfortable, fussed for a long time during the night (and I'm subbing today). So, I set him in the crib, shut the door, and slept on the couch.  It was the best 5.5 hours of sleep I've had in quite some time.  He's got 7 great big teeth that bite hard. He smiles and all you see are teeth - they're so cute!
Clancy's learning to walk - he's taking a few more steps every day. He loves food and sitting in his high chair for the 5.4 minutes it takes him to eat. Then, he spits out his food, throws it on the ground, or cries until I let him out.  He loves climbing the stairs, playing in the toilet, taking pots out of the cupboards, and digging in the garbage. He's also really gotten good at helping Matt. Matt was out working on my deck the other day, right out my kitchen window. He knocked on the window to get my attention, and there was Clancy, at the top of the ladder on the deck. He climbs to the top any chance he gets. Another one keeping us on our toes.

Adina loves school. She loves seeing her friends. She's been learning about apples and the letter A. They just moved on to letter B. She loves playing house with her friends at school, with the Barbies at school, and with her brothers.  All day, every day school is a new adjustment. She comes home tired and hungry.  We work on ABC's and read sometimes, and she helps entertain the little boys.  She's fun and cute and Baby Guy loves her a lot (we all do).

Clarence is busy. He's got projects on his mind 24/7.  From horse chores to pig chores to hauling hay to making cow books (you should see them) to helping move machinery to gathering eggs for selling to randomly surprising me by doing a little chore, that boy doesn't stop. He's got work on his mind ALL THE TIME. What a gem.  He's always hungry. He's learning all about spelling words and the work required to memorize them (a bigger chore than all his other work!).  My favorite is a note he brought home to me yesterday.  A plain white piece of paper that said, "I love you Jacki."  It completely melted my heart. What a honey!

Matt's great. He's busy. He's hauling hay and building my dream deck.  He rocks.  We're having fun with our farm and our life and our cool little family.

Our favorite response to each other if we need a little mood-lifter is "Yeah, Babay."  It helps remind us of what's important - those adorables listed above.

Have a great day, Babay!