Mommy, I hurted myself!

So I'm in my bedroom, minding my own business, when I hear Eddie cry out, "Mommy! I hurted myself!"
Being a relatively caring mother, I inquired how he hurt himself. I was expecting either a screaching condemnation of his brother so that I could tell Chas not to hit, kick, pinch, punch or look at his brother with furrowed brow, whichever transgression he was accused of. Or I would simply be given a body part to kiss better. No. I got the following description. It's not absolutely verbatim because it took me a while to get in here to write it down. But it is the gist of how Eddie got hurted.

"I went potty so I had to wash my hands but when I went to wash my hands I saw my really good puzzle and I stopped to look at it and there were cars on it so I picked the cars up and when I throwed them off of my puzzle one of the cars bounced off the box and it came back and landed on me there (points tearfully to his toe)."

This never happened to him when he wore diapers.

Pumpkins and Trains. Doesn't get any better than that.

We took the boys on the Pumpkin Express at the Mt. Rainier Scenic Railroad Saturday. They loved it. However, enroute, we were concerned about missing the train. So Eddie had to take the map and study it to make sure we were going the right way. So typical. Anyway, the boys were jumping up and down in excitement. We rode on real steamies and even got to watch as they switched our engines from a tender to a tank engine -- JUST LIKE THOMAS. It's hard to imagine anything more exciting. Oh, and we got dirty steam water spit onto us. It was thrilling beyond measure.

Pumpkin Patch Daredevils

The boys' first school field trip was a huge success. They went to a pumpkin patch yesterday and selected small specimens to take home. But their absolute favorite part was careening down a wood chip pile in various vehicles. It's a wonder no bones were broken, and kind of unfair really -- because a classmate broke his femur over the weekend just playing at home. Six weeks in a pretty major cast. What a nightmare.

Also, the boys have become quite avid storytellers. Today as we drove to pick up Auntie Cathy from the car repair place, they told the story of the cat they first saw in our cul-de-sac. Apparently this cat ran and jumped into trees, clouds, mountains, swimming pools, valleys etc. It was a loooong story. But it's quite fun to hear their growing imaginations at work -- and to know that they are developing a sense of narrative. Chas says he wants to be a writer when he grows up - poor kid. Eddie, on the other hand, says he doesn't want to grow up.

Of course, this post is really just an excuse to post some pics from the pumpkin patch....

This boy is gonna make a great husband someday...

As the family sat down for dinner tonight, Eddie looked at Steph and announced that he had a good day. "But first tell me about your day," he said. "How was your day?"

And as she talked of widgets and matrixes and crap that makes my eyes glaze over, he actually appeared to be genuinely interested, asking questions etc. And it occurred to me that if he can maintain this attitude into his adult years he will make someone very happy. Or be a total pain in the ass. Come to think of it, both of those things are already true. He makes me (and Steph) very happy. And he is a total pain in our asses.

I'm not saying Chas is an artistic genius or anything...

But only because his work speaks for itself.

That's not nice.

So today I gave the boys a little dollop of bleu cheese dressing to go with their carrot sticks at lunch. It's egg-free, of course. But they didn't know that. Eddie looks at it and positively screams at me. "Mom! You gave him 'llergic salad dressing. That's not nice!"

I explained. But I'm not convinced they don't still think I'm trying to harm them...

Mmm, the cream is so delicious, sez Chas

Mommy's Little Insomniac

Last night, undoubtedly owing to long naps yesterday, the boys were troublesome trucks at bedtime. Chas wanted in Eddie's bed. Eddie wanted ... well, he wanted Chas out of his bed. They were semi-settled (though we kept hearing conversation) when we went to the bedroom to watch a completely unsatisfying Tivo'ed "Cold Case." I checked on them at 11 p.m. Chas was curled up asleep in the smaller of the two chairs in the room. Eddie was in ... Chas' bed. Apparently, he didn't want in his bed, he just didn't want Chas there. Whatever. He was still awake, so I asked him what he was doing in his brother's bed. "I'm just laying here quietly until I can go to the big bed," he said. I was amused, so I told him to come with me to the big bed. Then I picked up Chas who was completely terrified by being picked up while in a dead sleep.

Anyway, I put both boys in bed with Steph while I retreated to the bathroom to do my nightly rituals (which includes reading trashy mags like Entertainment Weekly). When I came to bed it was after 11:30 p.m. and Eddie was still awake. So I asked him why. "I have no idea," he sighed. Eventually, he left us to go get in his own bed. I stopped asking questions at that point and just went to sleep myself. This morning I awoke to both boys in our bed. To quote Eddie, "I have no idea" how that happened...

I'm brave, Eddie says, letting go.