I need to pay more attention.

Every morning, Jake gets himself dressed and ready for school. It took us a lot of work to get him to be morning self sufficient. If you saw his reaction to us asking him to get dressed, you'd think we soaked his clothes in acid.

So now that he dresses himself with little to no complaining, I interfere as little as possible. Apparently to the point of not paying any attention at all. This morning, Jake put his jeans on backwards. I didn't notice. When I went to pick Jake up from school, his pants were still on backwards. I didn't notice. In my defense, he wears a longish winter jacket that covers where the pockets are on his jeans.

My kid wore backwards pants all day today, and I had no clue, until he was at home again. I quizzed him up on it, and he said no one said anything about it all day. I find that hard to believe. I am sure his teacher thinks I am certifiable, if she didn't already.

He will not speak to strangers.

Daniel does not talk to people that he doesn't know. Heck, he doesn't even talk to people he is aquainted with. You would never know that right now, as he plays and commentates every single move he makes. He is the king of questions. I just know that one day, it'll be a question from Danny that sends me plummeting over the edge. I'll be in a rubber room somewhere, going "Why? But why? How come?"

Jake, on the other hand, will talk to anyone, anywhere, anytime, and about anything. He is one of those kids that you have to worry about what might come out of his mouth. Like the time he told the Jehovah's Witnesses at the door that I was just in the bathroom poopin'. Real nice. Now that he is in kindergarten, I find myself wondering what he is filling his teacher's heads with.

In other news, I've got some terrible puppy fever. I want a puppy so bad that it hurts. I am still researching and soul searching to make sure that we are ready to take the plunge, but man. I really want a puppy.

And lastly, it is still freakin' winter. For at least three more months. BLECH!

Birthday Suits

It was Danny's third birthday at the end of December. For Christmas, the boys recieved these cute suits. I figured it would be a good idea for the boys to wear them to Danny's birthday party.

Danny is a very particular boy. He won't just wear anything, and has some clothes in his closet that he refuses to wear at all. So I thought that if there was any chance of him wearing the suit, he had to be acclimatized to it. So the day of his party, I hung his suit in the living room so he check it out.

It seems like whether or not he will wear something is inversly proportional to how badly I want him to wear it. I hyped up the suit. I told him it was a special birthday suit. I forced Jake to wear his, so Danny could see his big brother wearing it. Another thing about Danny is that he doesn't like attention. He hates to be told that he is cute. I think the wheels were turning, and he realized that wearing this special birthday suit was probably going to ensure some "Awwww....you are SO cute!" are going to come his way.

Danny didn't want to wear the suit. I finally coerced him into it, only by promising him that once we got to the party, he could change his clothes. He spent some time admiring himself in front of the mirror.

He agreed to some pictures. They were more cooperative than usual, but my keeper to tosser ratio was still very low. I did manage to get a few though. We finished up the picture taking at headed off to the party.

We get there, and Danny's grandma wants to take a picture of him in his suit. The shit hits the fan in Danny land. She manages to snap a picture of Danny in his suit sporting a very miserable face before he crumples to the floor in tears. We went and changed.

Why am I blessed with such head strong children?