Rainy Days Back Home

Yesterday was quite a return home. Koen was an absoolute disaster. I knew I would get payback for being gone a day and a half, but I didn't really think I deserved the frustrating day he gave me. I haven't had a day that required a balling phone call to my mom at the end of it in quite a few months, but yesterday was definitely that kind of day. Koen is so totally 3 and is also so smart that he knows how to push buttons, disobey knowingly, be stubborn and try and try to wear me down. I have to say I'm quite tough and don't wear down easily, but it is exhausting and I love him so much, it is very sad for my spirit to have to be disciplining him all day long. I pray this hard work and these tough days one day pay off.

Tavin, on the other hand, seems like an angel in comparison (I feel so bad for saying that because Koen is my sweetheart and I love him dearly). Tavin is in such a different phase than Koen...he laughs easy, he is entertained easily and he is almost always agreeable. He has not given me any payback for being gone this weekend, slipping comfortably back into our home life, not skipping a beat (and this is all even with him still dealing with this nasty cold, although his energy level is much better).

Today has been a much better day despite the rain and despite the fact I feel awful today. This morning I woke up with the alarm and quickly rolled out of bed. As I did that I literally heard something crunch in the back of my neck and immediately I was in excruciating pain. I ended up taking some ibuprofen, putting a heat pack on it and going back to bed where I laid in pain for about 30 mins. before falling asleep. The ibuprofen is helping me get through the day, but I am in a lot of pain and do not have full range in motion (can't really turn my head to the right and can't fully use the arm on the right as usual without causing pain). Such an odd start to the day, and an odd malady. I'm really hoping after some more hot packs and some massaging it gets better.

Koen has been easier to deal with today. He has tested me some, but in general seems to not be trying to make my life miserable. He's been really enjoying pretending to cook and bake with Play-Doh. He has also been really enjoying "craft projects" lately too. This usually involves scissors, a glue stick, paper scraps, colored pencils, crayons and stickers. Yesterday, however, he lost privileges of using/having craft supplies upstairs after drawing on the wall with pencil for the first time. Things like that are such a let down as well as such a punch in the face that wake me up to the fact that this innocent child that I thought would never do something that was so obviously not the right use for crayons/pencils would do it on purpose. Human depravity at its best. Another example of that is that he is definitely testing how much little brother can take in terms of physical attention. So scary! He was so sweet the first few months of Tavin's life. Now Koen is definitely acting like a typical rival. I'm looking forward to when he moves on from 3 and this type of behavior! I hope and pray I'm doing the things it takes to help that process along!

Tavin seems to be feling a lot better despite the river running from his nose! He has been happy and very active. Here are some smiles from lunch and a video of Tavin's attempt at crawling (still not quite there yet). The video is also a hilarious glimpse in how we pass the time during playtime here with the two boys. Koen's crazy story-making imagination play mixed with Tavin's bumbling/babbling around. Hilarious!