365 Days of my Life: A Divide and Conquer Day.

After another night of Carter not feeling well and being up most of the night screaming, Dan and I approached today as divide and conquer. At some point in the night, Dan and Pierce switched beds. I woke up at 8 am to a bright eyed and bushy tailed Pierce in our bed; Dan was with Carter in Pierce's bed. It had to have happened after 2:30, since that is FINALLY when I went to bed.

I decided to spur of the moment seize the opportunity of just Pierce being up. I asked him if he wanted a mommy date, and he very eagerly replied YES! In fact he was so eager, he ran into the bathroom, went potty, and put on his shoes. He never even changed out of his pajamas. And honestly, they were cute. I did not care. :) We went to Dunkin for our breakfast, and then headed out shopping to purchase the items needed to make some soups and dinners. He was absolutely amazing in the store. Pierce used his manners, showered me with kisses, and never once begged for anything or whined. It was amazing. And he talked the whole time about everything. He talked about hiking, Amber, what he wanted to do, what he saw, it was great. And rather entertaining. I should have written down the things he said right then and there, since I should know by now at this point of the day, my mind is mush.

Pierce and I made our way home about 3 hours later. And unlike other shopping trips, he was not tired. He was happy. And while I was gone, Dan was able to sleep with Carter until 9:30, made him breakfast, played with him, and did his diaper. It seemed as if I walked in the door and the phone rang with a call telling Dan that there was a free set of kid golf clubs on the side of the road. So with no hesitation, Dan grabbed both kids and gave me some down time to take a shower and put away groceries and such. It was quite odd to have a shower without any little people walking in and asking 20 million questions. But it was nice.

It turned out they were free golf clubs for adults, so now Dan has a set. And I heard Pierce tell Dan, "now that Dada has golf clubs, we need to go golfing." It was the cutest thing ever. The boys made their way upstairs, and I decided to do some music time with them. So Pierce had a cymbal and a drumstick, as did I, and carter had drum sticks and a hand drum. And I taught them how to tap out the beat of their favorite songs. So we sang twinkle, twinkle, Itsy Bitsy Spider, and a few others. From there I made them lunch. It was nothing fancy, and both boys were still in their PJ's, so I made them Chobani with wheat germ and frozen berries. They both gobbled it up. I then read them a book, and off to a nap they went.

Carter woke up first. I was in the middle of making roasted pepper and carrot soup. instead of having a fussy baby, I gave him the carrot shredding to play with, and he LOVED them. He was also very intrigued at every step along the way and used Pierce's step stool to see what I was doing. Which was fine, because he also served as my taste tester along the way. I mean if a one year old will eat the soup, it has to be good, right? He then helped me bread some haddock fillets and put them in the oven. And by help, I mean, take out the Tupperware and place it all over as an obstacle course for mommy.

When Pierce woke up, he refused to touch the soup. Which I knew we were going to have a problem with since he still hates a pureed texture. However, he ate 2 fillets. I could not believe how much fish he ate, despite him arguing with me that it was tuna. And nothing but tuna. lol. Then Pierce decided to be a daredevil and gave me a heart attack. I had to go change Carter, and I told Pierce to sit on the deck and wait for me, since we were going to bring dinner to daddy. Well he did just that...on top of the railing with the cat. Yes, the railing that drops a good 40 feet straight down. I calmly, yet swiftly, grabbed him from the railing he was using as a balance beam, and explained he could NEVER do that again. But I asked him how he got up there. He said "it was easy. I moved the ball to there (the basketball next to the grill), I climbed on that (the grill) and then went up there and touched the sky (meaning the railing)." How can you dispute that logic? I gotta give it to him. He is very intelligent, and great at problem solving.

After bringing Daddy dinner, we stopped at Black Rock to play soccer. We always have a soccer ball in the car, since you never know where you are going to find that perfect field. At one point I was cheering him on as he tried to dribble the ball down the field full throttle. I was say "let's go Pierce, let's go!" over and over. When I took over, I hear this little voice saying "let's go momma, let's go! You can do it!" I almost started crying. That was one of the sweetest things ever, and I TAUGHT HIM THAT. It really made me realize that he does listen to everything I say. And I REALLY need to remember that. He did the same thing for Carter too as I held Carter's hands and he tried running after the soccer ball. (On a side note, I love how Carter understands the concept of soccer and tries to play - before he is even standing on his own.) Pierce also explained to me that we NEED to play soccer everynight - so he can run, and run, and run, and run. I don't mind that idea myself. It felt AMAZING to run like a kid again for an hour straight.

My mom had picked up rubber penguins for the boys to use in the tub, sandbox, anywhere really. While in the bath, Pierce started explaining to Carter that this one has crazy hair, and watch Carter, they swim real fast under the water. Carter LOVED having his brother play with him. He even tackled him after the bath to give him kisses. It was the sweetest thing ever. Pierce took it upon himself to read Brown Bear, Brown Bear to Carter while I was getting the night time sippy and bottle ready.

Even Dan said before he left for work, that this had been the best day in a long time, and the divide and conquer technique may need to be used more often. I have never laughed so much in one day, and Pierce was loving me laugh. Carter was even laughing almost the whole day too - despite still burning a fever. :/ Poor little tank.

Now it is quiet in the house - even though I had to make a deal with Pierce to keep him in his bed tonight. I told him I would be right down the hall and I would keep the door open to his room - but he had to stay in there. And before I said good night, I asked him if he had a great day today. And his reply? "I did momma. Thank you very much." As I gave him a kiss goodnight, and looked at my sleeping Carter in his crib (the same sleeping Carter that fell asleep by himself in his crib), I realized my little men are growing up into the most amazing kids ever. And I will always love them to the moon and back - good days, bad days, boring days, and all.