The Cute Contest

I swear I think my boys are competing to see who's the cutest....

There's Ambrose who, watching his daddy leave for work, waves and yells "bye bye!" And when I tell him we can go watch daddy out the window he grabs my finger with his fat little hand and with huge bright eyes calls out "togever!" and pulls me to the window, where he yells out a joyous "hello!" as soon as I open it.

Then there's Paxton, who has become entranced with the idea of "heart cords," invisible cords that tie your heart to the hearts of people you love. I forget which story it's from, but the point was that the hearts of everyone on Earth are tied together this way, because we all love or are loved by someone, usually many peopl. Yesterday in the car he became so happy telling me how his heart was connected to me AND Ambrose AND daddy, and then more family, and then his teacher, and then his classmates, and then... well, and so on and so forth. His eyes closed tight, a huge smile on his face, his voice cracking as he broke into squeals, proclaiming how many heart cords he had and how he loved so many people and they loved him and how happy he was, so happy he could just burst. Yeah, that's my sweet boy :)

Back to Ambrose, who since our visit to the zoo on Sunday keeps staring out the dining room window asking if a seal will come whizzing by. "Seal? Seal comin'? Where seal?"

And Paxton again, who had to draw "a group of 8" for his homework, and who chose to draw 8 happy little snowmen with big smiles themselves, to match his own as he drew them.

Ambrose, who loves the quilt my mother made him for his birthday and who will ask me now not to cuddle him to sleep but instead to put him in his bed where he pulls the quilt up high around him, cuddles himself in, and smiles as he whispers, "goo' niiiight."

Paxton, who is upset over the death of Charlotte in Charlotte's Web, but even more than that upset that a book he really enjoyed is over. He's just not getting into Matilda and wants his daddy to stop reading it to him so we can move on to the next book on our list, Trumpet of the Swan. The reason he wants to move on? Trumpet of the Swan is another book by E. B. White, the man who wrote Charlotte's Web, and yes my five year old understands authors and has a preference for writing style.

Ambrose, who will not wear shoes or socks in the car anymore and will toss them at my head with a laugh should I forget to take them off before we start driving.

Paxton, who was instructed to wear "something fancy" by his teach for school picture day, and who was not pleased when I refused to let him go to school in his new Iron Man/War Machine Halloween costume. "But mom, it's the fanciest thing I have!"

Ambrose hearing me say, "hello sweetie!" to a cute chicken at the State Fair and proceeding to grab my face and start whispering the same to me. Several wonderful minutes of a tight face hug and, "hello sweetie!" over and over again in that voice he uses when he's mimicking me.

Paxton realizing he's riling my feathers on the walk home from school and getting close to losing his trip to Chuck-E-Cheese, and quickly correcting the matter by carefully rewording the lyrics to "You are my Sunshine" and singing them to me with such emotion... He had a great time at Chuck-E-Cheese.

The boys running with each other at the zoo, laughing and racing, slowing down for the other, then running ahead, pure bliss and giggles.

The boys dancing to Laurie Berkner, singing together, looking at books quietly in the backseat and somehow trading at some point so that P has the baby board book and A has the Level 2 reader.

Ambrose hurting Paxton and being put in his crib for it, crying out "I sorry, I sorry!" as Paxton cries at his door begging, "Mom, please don't punish him, he's a good baby and he didn't mean to hurt me!"

And the boys hugging to make it all better then smiling as they go back to playing.

Yeah, I think it's a tie. My big boy who still asks for huggles, and my little boy who calls for his mama first thing in the morning.

Of course, when they find this in 10 years they'll both swear I made it all up, but even so, they're my cutie pies now and forever :)