{ What My Little Boys Are Up To...}

It always feels a bit weird when school starts up again and suddenly my house is so quiet. Weird..in a kind of good, sad, loving-my-time-with my little ones kind of way. At first the boys are sad to not have everyone else around to play with, but then they get back into their own little groove, and love playing and having fun with each other and me.

Unfortunately, our TV is still downstairs from the summer Olympics watching marathon, and with a newly bought TV antenna we actually get local channels, which means my little boys have been introduced to PBS.

With the 1000+ channels  you get with satellite dishes and cable, I’m pretty sure that the introduction to PBS seems a little archaic, but for us, it’s big news. We proudly do not have cable, so for us it’s just movies, some great VHS’s we’re holding onto until our VCR bites the dust, and Netflix through the wii. I’m ashamed to admit that Brianna and Austin lived on PBS for quite some time when I was constantly pregnant and tired with my three middle girls. It was kind of fun to revisit those days as my boys discovered our favorites, and some new shows. Oh yeah, and NO commercials, I  LOVE that. For awhile my kids thought that when people would talk about “commercials” they were talking about “cartoons”. They had no idea what a commercial even was.

Our own little Curious George, Ryan, is constantly finding his way up on all sorts of things. He is pretty much convinced that the only place to watch TV is on the little ledge right in front of the TV in the built ins. He has gone from no TV to pretty much being addicted to PBS. Not good, but I must say we are trying to wean that down a little. We realized it was a bit much when every time we put him in his high chair, he wanted us to turn it to face the TV. Hence the mention of the “Unfortunately” that our TV is still downstairs on the main floor. Add that to the fact that he learned how to turn on the TV, …he just makes himself right at home there on his ledge whenever he feels like it.

Scott, on the other hand, is okay with watching from the floor…

…of course as long as he has on his proper outerwear for 90 degree weather.

Don’t ask, I have no idea.

We have become pretty lax with our inside rules, now that the big kids are gone. Outside toys keep making their way inside.

And a quick spin before naptime always seems to find it’s way into our schedule.

…and with cute smiles like that, it’s pretty hard to say no.

Our new early rising schedule has us all trying to adjust as well. Scott is a bit of a morning person and really doesn’t want to be left out of scripture time in the mornings, so he drags himself out of bed to join us at 6am. The effects is a pretty tired boy by midday.

He tries his best to get me in my room for a nap (which really doesn’t take much convincing), but after a few minutes of waiting for me to finish checking my email, he usually doses off.

Sometimes he will make it to the couch…

    

..and once I see him over there sweetly snoozing away, I always get sucked in. Those long lashes, and little pouty lips, it’s any mother’s weakness. We snuggle close, and I almost always get a little choked up as I think about how some day these times will all but be a memory. It makes my heart hurt a lot to think about that. The day I don’t have a cute little nap buddy, will be a sad day at our house. I love my time with my boys…I just wish I could freeze it some days, or maybe bottle it up and revisit it in tens years when my heart is yearning to kiss those baby cheeks and hear their sweet toddler talk. Until, then….

I’ll just try a little harder to soak it all in now. One naptime at a time.