Hunty

Hunter melts my heart. He really does. Everyday. He's the snuggliest of my two kids. Tralee likes a good cuddle every now and then (when she's tired or sleeping is the best time to get your cuddle on with Stinks), but Hunty has her beat in the snuggle department. Hunter melts right into you, and then does super sweet things like rub your arm, or softly touch your face. Sometimes when we're laying on the couch Hunty will climb up, lay belly-to-belly, tuck his legs into the fetal position, and shove his arms under his belly. He also likes to shove his arms between you and him when you carry him around, as well as when he's sleeping. He's a tummy sleeper. So am I, and I like to tuck my arms underneath me when I sleep too. Always have. I like these kinds of similarities. They're sweet, and I love it.

I find rocks all over our house. I love that too. It's a little reminder that Hunter had been there. He has to clutch things in his hands at all times. His favorite items include an orange bouncy ball, the Hungry Hungry Hippos balls, a little blond girl toy we have from Little Einsteins, and any rock or pebble he spots while we're outside. Eventually he has to let go of something to pick something else up, thus there are rocks and other treasures in any given area of the house.

Last night Hunter was crying upstairs in the play area. It was his, "I'm ticked off and need help with something" cry. Jim went upstairs, figured Hunty was just tired, and put him to bed. He was tired, and fell asleep almost as soon as his head hit the pillow, but that wasn't the main reason he bawled. We got the real reason in the middle of the night when Hunter woke up and started complaining about the same thing he did when Jim put him to bed. It was like we hit the pause button by putting him to bed, and as soon as his eyes opened he was on play again. I went into his room, but Hunter would not calm down and kept pointing to the playroom. I decided to go into the play room with him and see if I could figure out what the fuss was about so we could FINALLY get some rest. Hunter said, "Ball! Ball! Ball!" through his tear-stained face. I asked him where and he pointed to the rocking-car and mustered, "under." So, I looked under the car and sure enough there was his little orange ball. I grabbed it, gave it back to Hunter, he whimpered, "Tanks," and we made our way back to bed. He fell right back asleep clutching his favorite little orange ball.

One of my favorite things Hunter does is call his big sister Sweetie. I think he heard me call Tralee this one day, and it stuck. I frequently hear such things as, "Come on Sweetie," "You got it Sweetie!" and "Sweetie, you wan diss?" Melts my heart.

Hunter is a little shy sometimes. His cute little head-tilted-downward-eyes-peeking-up shy face melts my heart too. Whenever we peek in on him in nursery at church he's usually standing on the outside of the action. He has a toy clutched in each hand, and just watches the other kids with a shy little face. When Jim picked him up from nursery last Sunday his teachers said, "We were so surprised today! Hunter actually talked! He walked up to a little puzzle and started counting the pieces, we didn't even know he could talk!" I guess from going from saying nothing to counting to ten was a big shock for them. Hunter sure likes to talk around the house, so it was funny for us to hear his leaders' surprised reaction.

Hunty-Dizzle loves to copy his big sister, this is no surprise. It's mostly a good thing, as he knows most of his letters, some of their sounds, and how to count to ten (sometimes beyond ten, but he's got ten down). Sometimes copying Tralee is not the greatest thing when she's playing with something and he wants to as well. This usually results in a tug-of-war between the two. Sometimes I don't know who had the toy first, so I tell them to "work it out or the toy will go bye-bye." I don't want to choose one child over the other if I don't know who had it first. But when I witness one stealing a toy from the other, I'll usually lend a helping hand. If this doesn't go in Hunter's favor, he'll usually hit me or Tralee. Not good.

My little man still likes to hit. He hits for fun, when he's mad, if he's embarrassed, or when his daddy asks for a kiss. After Hunter smacks Jim, Jim pretends to cry, then Hunty will give him a soft little peck. It's their little game. I'm not sure how to end the hostile hitting when we allow it during these types of games. We should probably start a zero tolerance hitting policy, even when it's for fun. Any suggestion to stop the smacking would help.

Another thing I would like to adopt a zero tolerance policy on is Hunter taking off his diaper. He's really really good at it. Yesterday I was checking my email while the kids were playing with their toys. I saw Hunter run by out of the corner of my eye and noticed he was bare-bummed. I figured all would be well if I finished deleting a few messages, and then put a diaper back on him. A minute later I heard Tralee say, "Ew! Mommy! Corky pooped in the house!" When I went to investigate I saw some poop on the carpet, but it sure wasn't our dog's. It was a little gift from Hunter. I cleaned up the mess, and promised myself to never procrastinate diapering my child again. I also make sure he has pants on at all times. If he has pants on, the diaper usually stays on. If I just let him run around with a t-shirt and diaper (which I do on occasion when we're just chilling at home) he tears it off, and I have to deal with the aftermath.

I love my little boy. Diaperless or diapered, he's such a sweet little ball of joy. I'm so glad I get to be his mom.