Bribed with tarts

A friend of mine informed me that she had set up a festive fall display by her front door and told me I could take some pictures of the boys.  I love taking pictures of them, as if you haven’t already noticed, but doing something like a scheduled photo shoot can be tricky with my two.  Ford and John Brantley were playing in the sandbox and I asked Ford if he wanted to go to one of our favorite stores, Dollar Tree, and get some Sweet Tarts.  Instead of saying “yes” he comes back with “Why?”.  He’s too smart…. He knew I was up to something.  I told him I needed some plastic spoons to send to school with him and on the way we would take a few pictures.

 I bribed Ford and John Brantley with Sweet Tarts.  Ford totally got it, but John Brantley didn't.  I gave up.  We left.

 I love talking with Ford and watching his little mind work.   We were in the living room the other day and I was hot.  I asked him to turn on the fan.  Our fan has buttons on the wall you can push: off, low, medium, and high.  I told him to put it on medium.  He said, “Okay, so you don’t want it on large?”  He was referring to high!  Made me laugh!!!

 On October 13^th John Brantley turned 16 months old.  I have gotten to the point now where I can take or leave his morning nap.  This makes my days run much smoother.  Like for instance on Sundays, he doesn’t get a morning nap because that would be much too stressful.  I do like him to have a morning nap on the days that Ford goes to school so I can get some productive things done.

He still isn’t talking.  He says the same things: bye bye, da da, mommmma, but mostly he just squeals.  He understands whatever you say to him which is helpful.  He has 11 teeth.

He still bites.  He is the worst eater I have ever seen.  If sweets were healthy he’d be set!  He loves animals, outside, drinks, Sweet Tarts, tractors, balls, books, and playing with Ford.

 I use to read to Ford ALL the time before I had John Brantley.  You throw two kids into the mix and it puts a serious kink on your one on one time with your children.  Therefore, I have failed the last 16 months pretty bad.  At age two Ford had memorized (pretty much) 2 books.  He loves books.  He loves to be read to.  I have been feeling super guilty about this.  In my research I have found that reading to your children at least 20 minutes a day is so beneficial to them in numerous ways.  So yesterday during Bitty’s nap I decided we would read and begin learning new words.

Yesterday we read for about 30 minutes and we found the word “the” on every page and in every book.  I’m pretty sure that Ford was super annoyed with me because I’d pause and point.  He kind of did a huffy breath at me and would say “the”.  So last night after he went to bed I stepped up my annoyance even more.  I took a sheet of white computer paper and folded it into 8ths.  I wrote “the” on all 8 sheets and placed them in various spots around the house where I was sure he’d see them.  He quickly noticed them this morning and inquired about what was going on.  Next word: “and”.

 Yes, I am aware my stainless needs to be cleaned.

We love our little Bitty even if he acts like a terrorist most of the day.  He’s all boy and just perfect for our family.  We love you, John Brantley!!!!!