Happy Birthday to You!

What? Two posts in a week? Must be important. Must be earth-shattering. Must be someone's birthday!

My older son, Jon Curtis, AKA Bean, turns 4 today. FOUR. It's so sad... I always think that four is a magical age where they cease being babies and turn into actual children. You know, the three-and-under stuff doesn't apply. No more diapers, pacis, sticking play-dough in their mouths (hang on a sec while I rescue Bacon).....

Anyway, it's days like this that remind me I'm glad I have another sticky-faced rugrat crawling around, getting into everything, keeping me from making regular blog updates. I'm not ready to give up chubby cheeks, and chubby toes, and chubby... cheeks. Which reminds me...

I have a funny milestone I look forward to with each child, and now Bacon has fallen prey to... the ACCENT! Haha. It's just funny, because neither Lee nor I have a really strong Southern accent, me especially. But sooner or later, our children come down with a case of the drawls. I was sitting at the table, eating a scrumptious breakfast of apple and coffee (hey, it's swimsuit season, Y'ALL), feeding Bacon some eggs, and he started patting them (thank you Bible Class and the "Pat the Bible" song). I automatically responded with "You're making a mess!" To which my little myna bird drawled, "MAY-ETH!" (We're still working on teeth here. And hoping to get them in time to eat birthday cake in a few weeks.) It was another instant where I wished I had my camera, to capture the look of pride on his face. (It was a much nicer look than the one minutes earlier, when he was yelling, "WAN DA!" over and over again at his brother's eggs.)

Well, I must get back to the trenches. Much to do on this important day--and only half of us are dressed!

Walker, Texas Ranger

Today marks a new stage in Bacon's life. First of all, he has become a TODDLER. Finally. Not that I necessarily wanted another sticky-fingered angel to chase around the house... But I did want him to be able to walk at his first birthday party. He took his first steps weeks, months ago, but he's now actually preferring to walk beside the objects he would have cruised along beside just days ago. So, walking... CHECK!

Also, he has become the newest bully in this family. You know how, when you have children close to the same age, and you tell the older one, "You just wait until he gets big enough to fight back!" That day has arrived for Bacon. He is now the attacker, not the attackee. I can be sitting near him as I was today, listening to Half-Pint read (from her new book, Cinderella III, Thank you, Gracie Gafford!) and notice Bacon is staring at Bean, who is not paying attention. When the slow smile begins forming on The Old Man's face... attack is imminent. Then he springs! Luckily (or unluckily at mealtime, anyway) Bacon STILL doesn't have any teeth, so I don't have to worry about bites just yet, but he sure can gum him to death. He's got the war cry, and he seems to know his best move is in using the center of his body mass to weigh Bean down, and then quickly wrapping his chubby little fist in Bean's hair and pulling with all his might! It looks like an actual wrestling match (as if I've ever seen one), especially when Bacon starts tapping his leg while he's got Bean pinned.

Oh, and Bacon's newfound mobility also means he has a new way of throwing a fit: heel lifts.