Housebound

With temperatures in Thompson approaching absolute zero, the last few days in the house have been, well, interesting. Being locked up with an almost two-year-old and a brand new four-year-old has been, at times, annoying as hell and, at other times, a real hoot.

Sonwun, at four, is really testing his limits and, therefore, testing my limits of late. He actually used the words "I don't have to!" recently after being assigned the menial task of taking his dirty socks to the hamper. Um, when daddy says you have to, you have to. End of story.

He'd actually been working up to that little declaration of independence for a while; ignoring me when I spoke, taking his sweet time to do what he's been told . . . yeah, I know. Testing his world, testing his power levels, testing my patience.

In any case, he's now understands that his world and power levels and several steps before "I don't have to!"

But it's not all bad— not entirely bad.

Yesterday the two monkeys were playing downstairs when I heard Sontoo starting to squawk. It wasn't the blood-is-flowing-move-your-ass squawk. More of a my-brother-took-my-car noise. Yeah, I can tell the difference.

Seconds later, Sonwun runs up the stairs and into the kitchen. I figure he's distancing himself from the scene of the crime. But instead, I get:

"Dah-da-da-da-da-daaah. SuperSonwun to the rescue. Daddy, Sontoo's crying. His head is stuck."

And while I appreciated the heads-up on this one, I really need to go over the order in which we present information. Sure, the fanfare and announcement of SuperSonwun's dramatic and sweeping arrival was impressive (his batman pajamas have a cape). But when your brother's head is stuck between two couches, that should really be the first bit of information offered. Just saying.

Sontoo wasn't hurt, just annoyed and he quickly recovered and promptly tried to do it again, as it earned him some attention. I moved the couches.

Sontoo's language skills and lexicon are improving daily and I gotta say, it's really cute. From his "morning dada!" in the crib to his "night night," he's taking every opportunity to exercise his abilities and make himself heard.

Many of his new words are coming from Sonwun. He loves to repeat things his older brother says. He pulls out his most effective and go-to phrase "I miss you mama," at almost every opportunity, as it melts Neomom's heart.

At diaper change time, he compliments my work when complete. "Poofit" is his version of "perfect" which apparently describes my Pamper replacement technique.

And with every new word, he is very proud to point out its meaning. This morning it was "Fum daddy, see? Fum." Which, of course, means he's found his thumb and the correct word for it. It's an exciting time in his life and I am having a great time watching and listening.

Anywhoo, it has warmed up to a much more comfortable (and I really do mean that) -25C here in Thompson this morning, with a windchill at -38C. Doesn't feel all that bad after the -40s. Sunrise at 9 a.m., sunset at 4 p.m.

Have a great Tuesday. It's garbage day here!