Particularly Peculiar

I've been watching the Bear closely over the past few months. At first I was concerned that he was about to plummet off the deep end of the ridge into perfection/compulsive disorder world, but I have since learned that he is quite safe from falling. The Bear is not a perfectionist. Perhaps to a stranger he would appear so. He is always tidy. He lines his cars and trains according to type---as in steam engines in one place, diesel trains and freights in another. Construction trucks on one end; farming vehicles and maintenance trucks on the other. Then, further broken down within the categories are other categories. Well, you can understand my initial concern.

We walked into the Doctor's office last month for a physical. The Bear weighed 33 lbs and was 33 inches tall. My son is very very precise. He even grows, precisely. He is very particular about his routine and how he likes to do things. He hates getting dirty while indoors. For example, the boys were sick this past week and one day the Bear found a booger in his hand. HE FREAKED OUT! He ran to me, tears running down his face, yelling "disgusting! disgusting! disgusting!" I wiped his hands clean and still he continued yelling "disgusting!!" It took several minutes for the trauma of the event to subside. Whenever we sit down for a meal or even a snack, the Bear usually politely makes a request for a napkin or two. If his hands get dirty while painting or coloring he will draw my attention to it by saying, "dirty fingers, mama!"

And yet, once we are outside...all the rules change. He can't splash in puddles hard enough. He loves playing in the dirt and in the mud. He loves our pool. He loves working in my garden with me. He still has all sorts of little methods for getting messy, but its a relief that he loves to get messy when outside. I love how particular he is about his life. His character is charming and he is so very much like his father at times, delightfully peculiar with a spectacular amount of genuine, bone deep, heart felt kindness.

Now on to the other small person consuming the other half of my time and energy...Cubby! Who loves getting dirty all the time and is rarely still or quiet. In his mind, napkins, baby wipes and cleaning cloths of any kind are all space invaders to be thwarted, usually with amazingly fast karate chops accompanied by ear piercing carnal screams. He is almost always, a head to toe mess. The one exception being 6:30-7:30PM, daily. :) Or as we call it in our house, "Monster Bath Time!"

I love bathing him at night and kissing his pink, sweet smelling skin. His hair is feather soft when I tuck him in, his cheeks are clean and those blue eyes sparkle up at me as if to say, " Mommy, I am delicious and squeezable." I enjoy this time of night. Its the only time he is ever clean enough to kiss without getting some sort of aftertaste in your mouth once you are done. :) When Cubs wakes up in the morning he is somehow, already a bit dirty. After breakfast he is definitely very dirty. By the end of the day he is sticky, his hair crunchy with some sort of food mixed in with sweat and dirt, his body appears to be coated in several layers of watermelon juice and cheerio dust, while his hands are...indescribable. This happens because Cubby is a hands on, full body contact, bulldozer of energy. He is my little Taz. He is always destroying something with a huge smile on his face as he does it. J and I love to describe him as a sweet angel with a big blue shiner and a slightly crooked halo.

He helped me bake a cheesecake today. I sat him up on the counter as I worked. He watched as I cracked eggs, poured sugar and tossed in some cream cheese. I revved up the hand mixer and gave it over to him. He smiled that beautiful toothy grin of his and started mixing. We carefully poured the batter into our springform pan and then I helped him down from the counter. He watched as I carefully slid the cheesecake into the oven. I always turn the light on for him because Cubby loves to watch food cooking in the oven. He stands at the door, his eyes at level with the window in the door and he gazes at the food for a while. Its precious. Sometimes, like today, he will pull up his chair and sit in front of the oven for awhile, patiently waiting for the treats to come out. On other days, he gets fed up with the tediousness of baby life, pulls out his plastic wiffle bat and beats on the door while he screeches for the food to be brought out immediately.

Cubby is a particular person too. He likes people and food in particular. If he is going to play, he wants to play loudly. If he is going to throw a ball, he wants to throw it hard! If he is going to hug me, then he wants to be held and cuddled for many minutes.

What fun to have such different personalities under one roof. I am quite quite in love with them and their sweet particulars. As I type this I can feel another little boy squirming around, trying to get comfortable by leaning up against my bladder. Hmm... what will you be like, I wonder?