Big Boy Wonder

I am not very disciplined when it comes to putting Rafi to bed. Mostly this is something that Rich does but occasionally I will try - and now Charlie is here I try to get both of them to sleep at the same time. I'm not very disciplined in that I give in to Rafi's desire to chit-chat even when the hour is late... very late. Last night I was really desperate to go to bed with Charlie but Raf was still awake, so up we went and I was there with two boys - wide awake - sort of chomping at the bit to get to sleep.

Well, three hours later we were finally all asleep (at least for an hour). It must have been quite comical (if you weren't me) watching my terrible attempts to lull to lala land the children. I was nursing Charlie with my back to Rafi, and Rafi always insists on hugging my arm, which involves some serious agility on my part. 

The mistake I always make, though, is to engage with Raf's night-chat. It is always rather random. Last night he said he's like two mamas. I asked what the other one would be like (see the mistake?) and he said that she'd have orange eyes. He then said that a second Rafi would have red eyes, which are his favourite. He then asked me why I had to go to work (a question I often ask myself - especially this week which has been quite misery-making), and when I explained I had to earn some money he asked why. Mind you this was around 2 and a half hours past his bed time so I should know better, but instead I explained that we need money to buy food, heat and to live in our house. Raf then listed a host of things: bread, cereal, jam, apples, and on and on - that we needed to buy, and he also pointed out that we needed money for his money box. 

He's really growing up. All of a sudden he wants to go to the toilet all on his own (though goodness knows how we are going to get him to poop on the toilet), he's cleaning up all of his toys before he gets out another toy to play with, he's bargaining with us (just 5 more minutes... that's it!). Tonight he and nana were playing a game of jack in the box. He emptied his train box and got in, put on the lid, and jumped out like a big Jack! When my mum suggested the game he went and got himself a jacket from the cupboard thinking that it was involved in a game with such a name.

He's also been quite the helper around the house. He loves to 'fold' up his clothes and put them away, he carries the clothes basket to the washer, loads it up, pushes the buttons, and helps loads the dryer. This time last year we were still quite worried about his speech but he's come on in such leaps and bounds this past few months. Indeed yesterday, for the first time, he drew people that actually resembled people - with a stick body and all!